STRUCK
by TrackRunner73
Summary: Annabeth Chase definitely did not plan on spending her summer traveling around the country with a bunch of other teenage criminals. Then again, she had never planned on becoming one in the first place. Percabeth AU
1. Chapter 1

**So this is my new story that I hope you all enjoy. This chapter doesn't have much going on because it's mostly an introduction, but I can guarantee that next chapter things get interesting.**

**I don't own PJO.**

**Annabeth POV **

Spending my summer on some road trip in a burning hot bus with a bunch of other juvenile delinquents was definitely not in my original plans. Then again, none of my life ever goes as planned. It was part of a program called STRUCK, Striving To Reform Underage Criminals Keenly. I'm pretty sure they just added 'keenly' so they could have an actual word as the initials. The program takes a bunch of teens whose only other option would be juvie and sends them on a road trip for the summer. It's almost like a two month long group therapy session/trust exercise. We're all supposed to spill our life stories and bond with each other as if we're all best friends.

Anyway, so from the very first day on that bus I knew this trip would be a living hell. I hadn't even done anything wrong to land me there…or at least not intentionally. No one believed me though. I doubted anyone on that trip would've believed me if I told them. Thankfully I had been avoiding almost everyone for the first couple stops. We kept stopping at different high schools to pick up more and more criminals. My comfortable solitude was brought to an abrupt halt when a girl plopped down next to me on the seat.

Her eyes were a dangerous electric blue and her dark hair was in a jagged cut. She was wearing mostly black except for a silver bracelet on her wrist. I found it odd that she was wearing a long-sleeve shirt and jeans in this hot weather, but I didn't think much of it. Unlike some of the kids here, she seemed very relaxed like she was used to being sentenced to stuff like this.

"Hey," she greeted, clearly trying hard to be polite even though it seemed totally out of her nature.

"Hi," I said quietly, glancing out the window where rain was starting to fall. I didn't really want to talk to people. They would all just end up thinking I was some sort of monster when they found out why I was stuck on that trip.

She nudged my arm, "You shy or something? We may all technically be criminals but I doubt anyone will be picking fights with you. Unless you ask for it." It wasn't the best reassurance, but the attempt was nice.

"I'm not usually shy," I explained. "This is just a different environment for me. I'm just trying to think around it. I'm Annabeth, by the way." Not to mention I was not at all comfortable with why I was there. Why couldn't they just lock me up instead? That sounded more logical to me.

Sticking out her hand, she introduced herself, "I'm Thalia."

Hesitantly, I shook her outstretched hand, "So, you sound like you're used to these kinds of programs. Is this summer going to suck or should it be manageable?"

She shrugged, "It depends on how you look at it. This is the third year I've been sent on one of these. By this point I consider these things fun. Some people spend most of their time being angry though and end up hating it. For example, meet Percy. He's one of my best friends."

The boy she pointed to definitely did not look thrilled to be there. He was staring blankly at the seat in front of him, yet he kept fidgeting as well. His shaggy jet black hair covered part of his green eyes, but not to the point that I couldn't see how unfocused they were. That sad, lost look on his face reminded me of Bobby and Matthew. I instantly suppressed the thought. The last thing I wanted to do was make a total wimp out of myself by crying on the first day.

"Does he always look so…depressed?" I asked. Without even realizing it, I rubbed my shoulder where the healed bullet wound I had was hidden by my t-shirt.

A grin broke across Thalia's face, "Nah, he just always pouts about being here the first couple of days. I guess I can understand why though. According to him, he's only here under false pretenses." At least I'm not the only one stuck on this trip that shouldn't really be here.

"In that case," I said, "What did he _not_ do to get him sent here?"

She laughed and stood up from the seat, "Why don't you just ask him yourself? Hey Percy!"

The boy's head snapped around and his mouth twitched up in a very slight grin for a second at the sight of his friend. I really hoped he didn't stay so sad this entire trip. Even I didn't plan on holding this grudge for the whole trip.

Thalia pointed to me, "She wants to ask you something."

"No I don't," I snapped at her. "She's delusional. I'm Annabeth." I didn't want to just ask him point blank. He seemed like he hated what sent him here, so I didn't want to just upset him more by bringing it up. And I was worried that he'd ask me for my story in return.

"Nice to meet you," he said in a sincere voice. "I would introduce myself but I think Thalia already covered that for me." There was a playful tone to his voice that I was surprised to hear. I guess Thalia was right; he is a happy kid beneath that misery.

"Hey Thalia," two guys greeted from the seat behind ours. Both of us turned around to face them. One of them looked pretty close to a surfer with the whole blond hair/blue eyes combo except for a thick white scar running down the side of his face. The other was wearing a bunch of black and was clearly Italian with his dark hair and eyes.

"Annabeth," Thalia said, "Meet Luke and Nico, Thing One and Thing Two."

"Do you have any friends that aren't guys?" I asked her.

She waved off my comment, "I do. I'm just closer with these idiots."

"I would hope so considering we've known each other for ages," Luke commented. His voice quavered just a tiny bit, as if he was walking on egg shells by mentioning how long they had known each other. I wondered why, yet I didn't even bother prying. Thalia's pretty impassive mask broke for just a split second, giving me a glimpse of anger at him she seemed to be trying to bury.

"But could you stop calling us idiots?" Nico quipped.

"You two are idiots though," she pointed out. "Don't you remember last year when you thought it would be fun to roll a bowling ball down that street with the huge hill? It cracked in two and you guys are lucky that car didn't crash when it swerved to avoid it." Great. So now I also get to spend my summer with people who have a very odd idea of fun.

"That was his idea," Luke jabbed his finger at Nico.

Nico simply rolled his eyes in response, "It was your bowling ball."

"You two sound like the Stoll brothers," Thalia huffed.

"Hey," Nico snapped, "I'm offended by that accusation."

"Are we really that bad?" I flinched as two guys popped up from the seat in front of us. Just one look at them made me very unsurprised they ended up on this trip. It seemed like they had mischievous grins forever branded on their faces.

One of them pointed at me and raised an eyebrow at Thalia, "New girl?"

Thalia nodded, "Yep. Annabeth, these are the Stoll brothers. Never trust them with your stuff. Actually, try not to trust them in general."

"Harsh," the same one commented, "I'm Connor, by the way."

"And I'm Travis," the other introduced himself.

"Would you ever consider dating me?" Connor asked out of the blue. What is wrong with all of these people? I expected a bunch of hard-ass criminals, but these people just seemed to get progressively dumber.

I was surprised to see Percy push Connor back down in his seat, "Leave her alone." His eyes focused in on mine, "Don't mind them, they both just like making people uncomfortable."

I grinned a little, "Thanks."

After a few minutes everyone settled back into their seats, much to my relief. They all seemed way too comfortable with being on a trip for criminals. Seriously, how fun could this trip be? I assumed I would slowly get used to being on this trip, but I definitely didn't think I would ever get to the point where I would be happy to be there.

"Is everyone on this trip insane?" I whispered to Thalia.

"Pretty much," she laughed. "And soon you'll be just like the rest of us."

The look of disbelief on my face must've been priceless, "You can't be serious."

She waved off my comment yet again, "Don't worry. Everyone acts different the first week or so. It's just how we adjust. It won't be long until you see what we're all actually like. Some scarred, some mean, some nice, some crazy. If nothing else, we're always an interesting bunch. It's just the way things are here."

**Like I always say, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter and plan on returning for the next one. I'm still debating whether or not to have them find out they're demigods later in the story or keep it an AH fic. Oh well. Peace out.**


	2. Chapter 2

**I was so surprised, and extremely ecstatic, to see how much all of you loved the first chapter and reviewed. To show my gratitude, I decided to post this chapter early.**

**So, thanks to all of you wonderful reviewers from last chapter: ****nicoluvsme****, ****larkgrace****, ****Taylor Rose Ivashkov-Ozera****, ****Mojo8096****, ****Nick Brimmstoone****, ****KashaTrapp****, ****biancadiangelo0703****, ****PrincessAllison****, ****C-Nuggets N.L****, ****cstar12****, ****catroyal210****, ****awsomekelly****, ****DobbyWeasley****, ****LightningstormZero****, ****Blackhawk1997****, ****the unnecessary****, ****SeaweedBrain113097****, ****iluvfantasy****, ****The Mysterious Dreamer****, ****AnnabethChaseRox13****, ****HiThereSmiley****, ****lilslybud****, ****bubbly chick****, ****ScarletGrcae45****, ****kldsn123****, ****Bookaholic21****, ****Alexandra Nightshade****, ****lovemeforever04****, ****Aliaga Snow****, ****Coqui's Song****, ****ApollosFavoriteDaughter3927****, ****AnnaBC1321****, ****Firehawk97****, ****Dark Phantom 96****, ****ChildrenOfTheGreatGods****, ****TrueJackVP408****, ****storyteller1425****, ****TaylorWeeksy****, ****PercyJackson-PeetaM-Fang-Fan11****, ****BeautifulEscapades18****, ****Cherry Louise****, ****filmyfurry****, ****Oceangirl511****, ****ReadrOfBooks****, ****mavk4444****, ****Damon-salvatore-lover15****, ****Bookninja15**

**Disclaimer: I don't understand why I still have to put this, but I don't own PJO.**

**Annabeth POV**

Yep, these people are all insane. That night we had pulled into some park and set up our stuff for camping. Let's just say the start of campfire seemed like it came out of the brain of a deranged mental patient. The Stoll brothers kept sporadically belting out the chorus of Only Girl in the World by Rihanna, Nico must've accidentally caught fire to at least ten marshmallows, Luke was flirting with half of the girls there, and Thalia was sparring with some big girl whose name I was yet to learn. Percy seemed to be the only normal one I knew.

I went and plopped down on the same log as him, "Hey."

"Hey," he replied quietly. "I should forewarn you, the first night we usually have to do introductions."

"Why do you make that sound like a death sentence?"

His eyes were trained on the fire, "You don't have to say much about what you did to get here tonight, but chances are you might have to say something about it. If you hate talking about it, it might be hard on you."

My stomach began to churn a bit, "Thanks for the heads up." If I simply said what I did, everyone would think I was some sort of monster. They wouldn't understand though.

"No problem," he told me. "I remember my first campfire here. I thought it would be some sort of happy sing along, but boy was I wrong. These campfires can get pretty intense. We've had tons of people cry, a bunch of verbal fights, quite a few fist fights, and then there's the occasional time when we are just flat-out shocked from someone's story." Mine would certainly fall under the 'shocker' category.

"How many years have you been coming here?"

"Three, I started the same year as Thalia and Luke."

"So you must know a lot of these people's stories?"

He nodded, "Yeah. Some are really bad. I actually have one of the better ones, if you can believe that. A lot of the time we end up discussing more about our awful home or school lives than the crimes we've committed." Damn, I would certainly have a lot to talk about here.

"Sounds fun," I stated sarcastically, still trying to calm my unsettled stomach.

After a few more minutes of insanity around the campfire, all of our…I guess you could call them chaperones told us to find a seat and quiet down. There was our only female chaperone, Mrs. Dodds, who seemed to hate all of us and didn't want to be on this trip. Then there was Mr. D who wasn't as harsh as Mrs. Dodds, but he didn't like any of us either. He refused to even pronounce our names right. The only chaperone I liked so far was Mr. Brunner, who told us to call him Chiron. He was actually reasonable and a pretty relaxed guy.

"As a way to kick off this trip," Chiron announced, "You all will go around and tell us your name, how many years you've been with this program, and you will sum up in one or two words why you are here." Just two words? I'd need a whole freakin' book to explain my situation. Trying to sum it up in one word guaranteed that all of them would think I was psycho.

Thalia, being quite used to this, started things off, "I'm Thalia. This is my third year here," Percy and Luke, who were also returning for their third year, cheered at that, "And the main, but not the only, reason I am returning here is auto theft."

The Stoll brothers stood up next. I was surprised most of these people seemed so willing to say why they were here. I guess it was easier for the people who weren't new though.

"I'm Travis."

"And I'm Connor."

"This is our second year here."

"And we're here for quite a few reasons. Vandalism, pick-pocketing-"

"We'll stop there for now," Chiron interrupted, "I know you two have a long list."

Travis shrugged, "It's a gift."

The big girl who was sparring with Thalia earlier got up next, "I'm Clarisse. This is my second year here. And I'm here for assault."

Luke got up next, "I'm Luke. This is my third year with this program," this time Thalia and Percy whooped and hollered, "And I'm here this year for theft."

"I'm Silena," a pretty girl stood up and said. She seemed more nervous than the rest of the people there though, "It's my first year here and I was sent here for reckless driving."

Nico was up after her, "I'm Nico. This is my second year here. I got sent back this year because I dealt drugs."

"I'm Beckendorf," a huge African-American guy announced, "This would be my first year here and I was sent here for illegally selling weapons." The flirty smile he shot Silena as he sat down didn't go unnoticed by me. They would be going out going out by the end of summer, if not the end of the week.

"My name's Rachel," a red-headed girl stood. "And I'm here for my first year for illegally piloting a helicopter…and crashing it for that matter."

Two other people there for their first year introduced themselves. Chris Rodriguez was sent here for doing drugs while Katie Gardner was sent for growing some. Good to know we have a creator, dealer, and user all in the same place. Then it was Percy's turn.

"My name's Percy. This is my third year," Thalia and Luke applauded at this part of his statement, "And I'm here this year for…I guess it falls under the category of vandalism. Again." The last word was almost inaudible as if he were telling it to himself out of disbelief. Since I'm a naturally curious person, I wanted to know what he meant by that. And what kind of vandalism could he be sent here for if he claims he didn't even do anything?

It was only then that I realized I was the only one left. I couldn't say it though. I rested my arms on my knees and attempted to hide my face as if that would suddenly make me invisible. No, I didn't think it would actually work. I sure was hoping it would though.

"Annabeth," Chiron called gently. "Wouldn't you like to introduce yourself?" He said it simply, but his eyes were begging me to. He knew why I was here, and he obviously wanted me to share.

"I'm Annabeth," I said solidly, lifting my head up, "And this is my first year."

"Would you care to tell everyone why you are here?" Chiron continued to press.

"I'd prefer not to." My pulse started racing and I chewed my lip hard enough I thought I would draw blood. I knew I would have to say it. He would lure me into doing so one way or another. I couldn't even face what I had done. At that rate, how was I supposed to face all of these people when they knew?

He stayed calm and patient, but added a persuasive edge to his voice, "They're going to have to know eventually. You can just let it all out now or I can tell them." I didn't doubt that he would.

I simply shook my head.

"Just tell them why you're here!" Mr. D snapped viciously. That set me off. The last thing I needed was some asshole who knew nothing about my life yelling at me.

"I'm here for murder!" I confessed loudly, glaring at the chaperons. "Happy now?"

I didn't even stay to look at all of their faces. Picturing the emotions was bad enough for me: disgusted, stunned, angry, pitiful, afraid, worried. All of them were too much for me. I snapped up quickly from sitting in the dirt and stalked off into the woods, not even caring if some animal were to attack me that night. Maybe I deserved it as payback for the lives I'd taken.

**I know that some of the reasons our favorite characters were sent into the program may not make much sense right now, but trust me when I say it will all be explained throughout the story. Questions? Comments? Concerns? Cool, I hope you all loved it.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Once again I would like to greatly thank all of my reviewers from last chapter: ****Sailingseas****, ****katnissjackson1019****, ****PercyJackson-PeetaM-Fang-Fan11****, ****cstar12****, ****lilslybud****, ****Lauren Tobias****, ****G.J. Forever****, ****ApollosFavoriteDaughter3927****, ****bubbly chick****, ****AnythingInterestingIWillRead****, ****Alexandra Nightshade****, ****ScarletGrcae45****, ****larkgrace****, ****Taylor Rose Ivashkov-Ozera****, ****nicoluvsme****, ****biancadiangelo0703****, ****Imakiller54321****, ****seaweed brain girl****, ****shadered-glass****, ****C-Nuggets N.L****, ****R h i a n d u r****, ****Dark Phantom 96****, ****Cherry Louise****, ****blue1031****, ****catroyal210****, ****HiThereSmiley****, ****Angel of Darkness1337****, ****mavk4444****, ****Damon-salvatore-lover15****, ****iluvfantasy****, ****DobbyWeasley****, ****storyteller1425****, ****LeoV44****, ****iBoss****, ****Firehawk97****, ****writerkid08****, ****the unnecessary****, ****Aliaga Snow****, ****SoccerGirl8****, ****StilloftheSilence****, ****JayJay-Lynn****, ****lovemeforever04****, ****Mojo8096****, ****VampHime****, ****filmyfurry****, ****kldsn123****, ****Coqui's Song****, ****ReadrOfBooks****, ****PrincessAllison****, ****annabethchase15****, ****JasmineofAgrabah****, ****Prettylittleliar1435****, ****The Daughter of the Greek Gods****, ****Bookninja15**

**No, I still don't own PJO.**

**Annabeth POV (I don't think I'm going to change the POV anytime soon, but I'm going to keep putting it just in case)**

"Do you think she's asleep?" I heard Percy ask rather loudly from behind me. I had stormed off from campfire to a nearby lake, just staring out bitterly at the water. I didn't want to face any of the people back at camp or at least not until the next morning. I should've known they'd send people after me.

"Shut up, you idiot!" Thalia whisper-shouted and I heard a slight smack that was probably her punching his arm quietly. "If she was, you probably just woke her up!"

"I wasn't asleep," I admitted in a dead tone. "And don't even bother to start asking questions. I'm not in the mood to answer any." I felt angry, like I just wanted to scream and punch something. But I didn't even know what I was angry at.

"We weren't going to," Percy said, plopping down on the grass next to me.

I purposely looked away from him, only to find Thalia on my other side, "They sent us two after you for a reason, Annabeth. They know we won't pry. And besides, Percy and I are pretty much experts at dealing with kids like us by this point."

"You make me sound like some small, helpless child," I grumbled.

Percy sniggered, "As if. Twenty bucks says I'm more immature than you. And I don't think I even need to place a bet that there are even more immature kids back at camp." I instantly thought of the Stolls and it cheered me up just a tiny bit to know that if nothing else, they would always be crazier than me. Crazy in a totally different way, but they would still be crazier.

"What Percy is trying to say is," Thalia explained, "You need to stop worrying. Since you committed something as serious as murder we all know there must be something else to your story. They usually don't let people with that kind of crime record on these trips, so you would be locked up if there wasn't more to it."

I was surprised she actually understood things like that. I figured that was just my logic. Apparently other people knew it to.

Feeling a hand on my shoulder, I instantly flinched it off. Percy had probably meant for it to be comforting, but I hated it when my personal space was invaded without my consent. Self-defense was what got me sent on that trip in the first place.

"Sorry," he apologized, looking all depressed again.

"It's fine," I lied. "I just don't like being here."

"That happens all the time with newbies," Thalia pointed out. "You'll get used to it. People like me who got used to it don't mind returning year after year. Sometimes we just realize that this is a better alternative to jail or our 'normal' lives."

She had a point. Between this and jail, I guess this trip won hands down. Between this and what my life would be otherwise, I guess I would have to pick this trip again. If I went back home, I would have to face a bunch of people who didn't understand what it was like at all. At least on this trip the people I would have to face could sympathize a little more.

"No offense, but why do they welcome you guys back year after year?" I questioned. "If you keep committing crimes, don't they have to lock you up without another option?"

Percy looked away from me at this. He seemed like he had an answer but he didn't really like it.

Thalia however, had her own answer, "You would think so. But they think I'm a good person to have back year after year to help out the newbies. We're almost like counselors. They like having me tell my story. They said it's a model story. And most of the things I do to get sent back link to the original reason I was here, so they find it a bit more acceptable." That last part made barely any sense to me, but I went along with it.

"And what about you?" I asked Percy, trying to pull him out of his annoyingly mute state.

He shrugged, "They can never provide enough evidence against me. They can usually find other ways to prove me 'guilty' but since there isn't enough evidence the court gives me this trip as an alternative."

Thalia checked her watch, one of the few technological things we were allowed to have on this trip, "We should head back. They're probably going to be sending us to bed soon."

They stood up and Percy offered out his hand to me, "Are you going to come back willingly or do I have to drag you kicking and screaming?"

I got up myself, "I'd rather not be dragged back."

Our walk back was silent. It wasn't uncomfortable, but it gave me the opportunity to hear everything in the woods. Every time a twig snapped or bushes rustled, my hand would nearly flit to my arm out of instinct. I kept my knife strapped just below my shoulder under my shirt sleeve for self-defense purposes. Unfortunately it was the same knife I had used to take the three lives that got me sent here. It was probably bad for me to have it on this trip, yet I couldn't gather up the will to part with it. I needed it as my safety blanket.

Sensing my anxiety, Percy grabbed my hand and squeezed it as we walked into camp, "Don't worry. No one's even out to stare at you."

Apparently he was oblivious to how tightly I tensed up when he took my hand. It took a couple deep breaths for me to be comfortable enough with his hand in mine that I wouldn't draw my knife. I know he was just trying to be kind and supportive but I barely knew the kid.

"You can share a tent with me," Thalia offered, "Just hold on a second."

She went off into her tent for a few seconds, leaving me alone with Percy. Everyone had gone into their tents so it was just us. He seemed relaxed with having his hand _still _wrapped around mine, yet I was still bugging out about it. From the tent Thalia went in we heard some arguing until Clarisse finally stormed out with her stuff and headed into a different tent.

Thalia returned and gestured toward the now empty tent, "I got Clarisse to share with Silena. So let's go. See you tomorrow, Percy."

He nodded and finally released my hand. I didn't even bother watching him go. I headed off into the tent, threw down my stuff and went to sleep as fast as I could. It had been a long enough day for me and I just wanted it to end. I should've known my nightmares would be worse than reality.


	4. Chapter 4

**Thanks to all who reviewed last chapter: ****PrincessAllison****, ****Coqui's Song****, ****bubbly chick****, ****iBoss****, ****HiThereSmiley****, ****Firehawk97****, ****COOKI MUNSTA****, ****Damon-salvatore-lover15****, ****OMG it's Rice****, ****AnythingInterestingIWillRead****, ****SeaweedBrain113097****, ****storyteller1425****, ****larkgrace****, ****kldsn123****, ****The Mysterious Dreamer****, ****mavk4444****, ****The Daughter of the Greek Gods****, ****lilslybud****, ****the unnecessary****, ****DobbyWeasley****, ****candy0304****, ****Ereader64****, ****JasmineofAgrabah****, ****JayJay-Lynn****, ****blue1031****, ****C-Nuggets N.L****, ****annabethchase999****, ****BensonNYPD****, ****R h i a n d u r****, ****cstar12****, ****biancadiangelo0703****, ****blackbutterfly21****, ****Bookninja15****, ****filmyfurry****, ****ApollosFavoriteDaughter3927****, ****catroyal210****, ****Alexandra Nightshade****, ****ScarletGrcae45****, ****BabyYou'reAllThatIWant****, ****erebus of darkness**

**I don't own PJO (or PJatO, whatever floats your boat).**

**Okay, so the first part of this chapter might rub some of you the wrong way, but I ask that please at least read the full chapter and my quick author's note at the so I can explain if it does bother you.**

**Annabeth POV**

_It was a dark night out and the howling winds tore against my skin, chilling me to the bone. The temperature was cold enough, but the wind chill was enough to freeze me over. I wouldn't be able to easily escape the cold, yet getting out of the wind would help tremendously. My seven year-old legs picked up the pace a bit as I ran through the maze of various alleyways. As I made another turn I finally found what I was looking for. There was an old abandoned house that if I were to enter I would be out of the frigid wind._

_Bounding up the steps, I yanked open the door. Even though the place seemed empty, I didn't dare step far into the house. I just stayed in the doorway where the freezing winds couldn't touch me. Plopping down on the floor, I tore through my raggedy backpack in search for a water bottle I had packed before I ran away from my home. Once I found it, I unscrewed the cap a drizzled a little into my mouth. At that young of an age I still knew I had to preserve my water so I only allowed myself a few drops._

_There was a faint creaking behind me, but I just assumed it was the wind against the house. Then I heard something even more unsettling._

"_Now, Annabeth, don't you worry. I love you. You can stay here with me. You can stay forever." It was undoubtedly my dad's voice. The voice I had just run away from weeks ago was now welcoming me in the dilapidated old house._

_When I turned around though, I most certainly didn't find my dad. It was dark, so I only saw the man's silhouette. He was unbelievably tall and wide. The figure seemed strong, like he could crush me in an instant if he wanted to. My hand grabbed at my arm, ready to unsheathe my knife any second. My dad had been a bit of a history dork so he had the knife lying around in his study as an artifact. I made sure to grab it before I left for self-defense purposes. I wished I didn't need to use it so soon._

"_Who are you?" my young voice growled. I had to hand it to myself, I was pretty menacing as a kid. "How do you know my dad?"_

_The man didn't answer; instead he just took more steps closer to me._

"_Stay away from me," I warned in a shaky voice, drawing my knife._

_He didn't listen. He stepped closer and I panicked. Without even thinking, I lunged with my knife and sank it into the big toe of his rather large feet. The man howled in pain, but he quickly recovered. His arm swung at me like a club and I got knocked back out the doorway, and I slammed down the steps. I thought that maybe since I was out of his house he would leave me alone, yet he simply continued his pursuit. In no time he was towering over me, close enough that I felt like I was suffocating._

_My heart was hammering against my ribs. I was having issues getting up because my back ached from my tumble down the steps. His hand rose to hit me, and I didn't doubt that with one good hit to my head he would be able to kill me. My brain was screaming DANGER! As he brought his arm toward my head, my instincts took over. I drove my knife up; aiming for his shoulder in hopes it would stop his arm from reaching me. He shifted though and so my knife drove right up into his chest, causing me to claim my first life at only seven years old._

I woke with a start, feeling a hand shaking my shoulder. At the touch, I immediately launched a punch forward in defense, feeling my fist make contact with skin.

"Ow! What the hell?" Thalia growled as she lifted her hand from my shoulder to gently touch the cheek I just punched on accident.

I wasn't in that house, it was just a nightmare. I was at that stupid STRUCK program and I just punched one of my friends out of paranoia. I really am messed up.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry," I apologized, sitting up.

"Damn," she said quietly. "You punch almost as hard as I do. You seemed like you were having a nightmare so I tried to wake you. I'm never doing that again."

"Sorry," I repeated.

She shrugged. "It's alright. I'll get back at you eventually. For now though, get ready. We need to be on the bus in ten minutes so we can get going to breakfast."

Well there was one skill I learned from Thalia while we were in a hurry that morning: how to fully collapse and put away a tent in under a minute. We were the last ones on the bus since we were running late, so we were forced to sit up front, away from most of the other kids. That made the ride pretty calm for us until we finally reached the food court we were going to eat at. All of us kids in the program connected a bunch of tables, so we had one big one we could all sit at. Our chaperones had their own table, watching intently from a distance.

"What happened to you?" Luke asked Thalia, looking at the red mark on her cheek that my fist left.

Thalia let her spoon for her cereal fall back into her bowl so she could point at me. "Never try waking this one up."

I felt bad again, but it was hard to when everyone started hysterically laughing. Apparently it wasn't common with this group for someone to punch Thalia and get away with it. Everyone settled down after a minute or so except for the Stolls; they found this to be the funniest thing ever.

"High five!" Connor shouted, holding his hand up for me to slap. I hesitated and in my split second of indecision, Thalia grabbed his hand and bent it back. "Ow! Please, let me go! Mercy!"

She grinned and dropped his hand which he was now cradling carefully. I felt my knee get bumped from under the table. Looking up, I saw Percy staring at me. When he caught my attention, he mouthed 'good job' to me. I smiled in return.

"Listen up hooligans!" Mrs. Dodds snapped abruptly from right behind us. I hadn't realized she was there earlier and I nearly drew my knife. "We have forms for you to fill out! Return them to me when you are done!"

With that, she threw down a stack of papers and a bunch of pens. We passed them all around the table and started filling them out. It seemed more like a questionnaire than some sort of paperwork.

"Yes!" Percy cheered when he got his. "This is one of the few reasons I'm happy this is my third year."

"Why?" I asked. It was just a stupid survey, how exciting could it be?

He laughed. "The first year you go on this trip, you answer the questions honestly and actually fill out the sheet. Your second year, most kids still answer the questions but some of their answers are more sarcastic and they just leave a lot blank. People who come for their third year treat this like a total joke. We make up names and write the stupidest things we can think of."

"So," Luke said. "For my name I'm debating between putting Billy Mays or Michael Jackson. What do you guys think?"

"Billy Mays," Nico told him. "Write everything in capital letters so you'll be yelling just like him."

"Britney Spears or Lindsey Lohan?" Thalia polled. "Or maybe Sarah Palin?"

"Do Britney Spears," I suggested. "You can make some of your answers her song lyrics. I would love to see their reactions to her songs being on there."

"Darth Vader or Chuck Norris?" Percy asked.

"Chuck Norris," the rest of us agreed in unison.

I had spent so much time listening to them come up with stupid answers that I hadn't even looked at my paper. I began scribbling down my own answers on my sheet.

_**Name:**__ Annabeth Chase_

_**Crime(s) committed:**_

It took me a few seconds, but I gathered up the guts to fill in the word _murder._

_**Do you regret what you did? **__Mostly_

It was hard putting more than one word for a lot of these questions. I didn't want to elaborate on what happened.

_**Do you think your home/school life contributed to you committing a crime? **__Completely_

_**Once out of this program, do you wish to leave behind your life of crime?**_

My life of crime? As true as that may be, I found that question a little harsh. I almost didn't answer it out of annoyance.

_Do I want to leave it behind? Yes. Do I think that will happen? Probably not._

_**Do you often fear your crimes will affect those around you? **__Absolutely_

The next question on this survey was the last, but I just stared at it for a good five minutes. I was trying to figure out something to put without writing a ten page story I would need to explain everything.

_**Is there anyone you care enough about that they could keep you from committing another crime? **_

_Not anymore,_ I scribbled, _that's half of the reason why I'm here._

**So like I mentioned at the beginning of this chapter, the fact that Annabeth killed someone at seven years old seems a little odd. But think about it. Kids don't really comprehend the idea behind taking a life. So if a kid is put in danger like that natural instinct is probably the only thing that takes over. And I don't find it not normal for someone's instinct to lead them to killing someone if it's what saves their life. Not to mention she was originally aiming for his shoulder. Besides, like I said, since she was seven she probably wasn't fully understanding what was going on anyway. And freak stories not too different from this have popped up on the news before. **

**There is still two other murders to be figured out so I hope this didn't drive any of you away. I took a risk with it and I hope it wasn't for the worst. I seriously debated whether or not to actually post this chapter for a good twenty minutes.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Thanks to all who reviewed last chapter: ****nicoluvsme****, ****The Mysterious Dreamer****, ****JayJay-Lynn****, ****LeoV44****, ****Alexandra Nightshade****, ****ApollosFavoriteDaughter3927****, ****ScarletGrcae45****, ****iBoss****, ****xxxxEPICxxxx****, ****Kahlan-Annabeth-Alanna-Cara****, ****SmartyPants1493****, ****PrincessAllison****, ****R h i a n d u r****, ****mavk4444****, ****MewJollyRancher12****, ****HiThereSmiley****, ****OMG it's Rice****, ****Coqui's Song****, ****C-Nuggets N.L****, ****DobbyWeasley****, ****cstar12****, ****biancadiangelo0703****, ****Taylor Rose Ivashkov-Ozera****, ****BeautifulEscapades18****, ****TwinkleLights123****, ****storyteller1425****, ****LightningstormZero****, ****Bookninja15****, ****filmyfurry****, ****Damon-salvatore-lover15****, ****Alexa Rg****, ****Firehawk97****, ****SeaweedBrain113097****, ****candy0304****, ****kldsn123****, ****Perseus12****, ****weluvwaffles2218****, ****cooki munsta****, ****TheLighteningThiefRocks****, ****MelRose520****, ****justagirlwithideas****, ****bubbly chick**

**Since some of you have asked I figured I should mention that in this story all of them are about sixteen or seventeen years old.**

**Annabeth POV**

Even after breakfast, we still stayed at the food court while the chaperones went through our surveys. Every once and a while you would see one of them crumple up a paper immediately. This would cause Luke, Thalia, and Percy to chuckle and high-five each other.

I probably should've known that being in a public place like this wouldn't have gone over well with me. None of the teenagers with STRUCK really knew about me, but news stations had jumped all over my story for weeks. The sad part being that they all made me out to be an insane person. Maybe I was, but not for the crappy reasons they were providing. Anyway, so while the secluded little group I was going to be spending my summer with knew nothing of me, I was a menace to others.

I hadn't even realized the whispers of people around us until one particular group of girls seated themselves not too far behind us.

"Isn't that that crazy girl from the news?" one whispered loudly.

A shrill voice rang out, "If it is, that would be hilarious. It looks like she actually found friends. They must all be demons too." I decided to be the bigger person and just try ignoring them. It's not like I would ever see them again anyway.

Another one gasped. "I think it is. Didn't she slaughter her brothers along with two other people?"

WHAT? Screw being the bigger person! That little piece of shit actually had the nerves to come up with a messed up story like that? Are people really that twisted that they'll come up with whatever story they want just so their target sounds as devilish as possible?

I whirled around in my chair and glared viciously at them. "Excuse me? I can hear you!" My blood was boiling and my mind was whirring from the resurfacing of bad memories.

"Good," one of them shot back. "Someone needs to let you know you're a disgrace to humanity." My hand twitched dangerously up toward my knife, yet I made no attempt to draw it.

"I'm a disgrace?" I quipped, standing up abruptly. "Then why am I the topic of interest in your gossiping? If I was really that much of a disgrace, you would have nothing to say about me. If anything it's disgraceful that you're sitting around talking about me because you don't have anything more exciting to do with your lives."

That one girl was stupid enough to walk over and get in my face. "Why don't you go join your brothers in hell?" She had _absolutely_ no damn right to say something like that at all. Not only did she have no idea, but you just don't mock death. That comment was all I needed to send me over trembling edge that I had been trying to balance on.

I'm proud of myself for not pulling out my knife on her. I'm even more proud of myself for making her the second person I punched that day. Except punching her was completely intentional. And it would have felt awesome had I not been so upset and pissed off. I hit her left eye spot-on, yet I had no intention of stopping there. When she dropped to the floor, I reeled back my leg to kick her. Her two friends stood as if to approach me, but one glare was enough to make them back down. Before I could follow through with my kick though, Luke and Percy teamed up and yanked me away.

"Get her out of here and calm her down," Luke ordered Percy.

As Percy dragged me outside the food court, I could see the girls arguing vehemently with a bunch of my friends in the program. Percy finally managed to wrangle me outside into to the warm summer air. I was so blinded by rage I didn't even notice the uncomfortably close contact I was having with him. Since it was still early few people were around so they didn't see me most likely making a scene.

Still pissed off, I had the strong urge to punch something. The only things close enough and tall enough to punch though was the wall of the building or Percy. I could break my hand punching the wall or I could unfairly deck Percy. Instead I settled for kicking over the nearest garbage can before pacing angrily.

"Calm down," Percy tried to persuade me quietly, gathering me in his arms again.

This time I had enough sense to freak out and try and squirm out of his grip though. "Please, just don't touch me. And don't tell me to calm down. I have every right to be pissed off with those bitches!"

I felt like I was actually losing my sanity. Memories of Bobby and Matthew and the night everything went wrong were trying to crash to the forefront of my mind, but I just kept holding them back. If I let them come forward I felt like I would lose myself entirely. Since everything happened, no one had actually had me try and cope. I simply got seated in trial and had to repeatedly recall everything that made up my worst nightmares. Each time it had felt even worse than the last.

"I know," he said softly. "I didn't catch what they told you, but if it got you this angry they probably do deserve it. But please calm down, it kinda worries me." Having someone actually worry about me was a foreign concept to me. It felt kind of nice, yet mega weird.

With a sigh, I plopped onto the nearest bench. "I haven't even been on this trip for two days yet and I've already punched two people. Maybe I am dangerous."

"Maybe you are," he admitted, sitting next to me on the bench.

"Thanks," I grumbled sarcastically.

"I'm just being honest," he explained. "But like I said, you can't be too bad if you're on this trip. Besides, so what if you've punched two people? You punched Thalia on accident and the other girl was being obnoxious. You definitely aren't the biggest mess to have been on this trip. Trust me, there have been much worse."

"Like who?" I challenged, not expecting to get an actual answer.

"Me," he pointed out. "Or Nico. Or Luke. Or you could even ask Thalia for that matter."

"I find it hard to believe you guys were this bad."

He laughed. "I wish we were only as bad as you. I don't even know your story yet, but you seem levelheaded considering why you're here."

I couldn't help but appreciate the fact that he wasn't flat out saying I was a murderer. Because that wouldn't be logical anyway. Nothing about my life is flat-out. However, I still didn't believe they were worse than me. He clearly doesn't know the things that go through my head, the savage memories I'm stuck with forever.

"Stop telling me stuff like this," I chuckled a little. "You're just making me curious which is only going to lead me to asking you questions you won't answer."

"Quit worrying, Wise Girl," he teased and I laughed a little at his pathetic nickname for me. "By the end of summer, you'll know everything. And I'll know your whole story."

I shrugged, attempting to pass off the thought of telling him my story to be no big deal. "You'll think I'm psycho when you hear it, but I guess it would be better than wondering."

He nodded, getting up from the bench and gesturing toward the doors. "Let's head back in. Those girls probably fled the building."

"Alright," I agreed, but hesitated a minute before getting up.

"Come on," he pushed, noticing my hesitation. "Don't worry; I'm not going to touch you again."

"That's not funny," I mumbled, walking next to him toward the doors.

"Then why are you smiling?"

I smacked his arm playfully as we returned into the building together, "That's a good question."


	6. Chapter 6

**Thanks to all who reviewed last chapter: ****Myterymew****, ****Taylor Rose Ivashkov-Ozera****, ****bubbly chick****, ****kldsn123****, ****storyteller1425****, ****iBoss****, ****HiThereSmiley****, ****lilslybud****, ****catroyal210****, ****biancadiangelo0703****, ****larkgrace****, ****Perseus12****, ****cooki munsta****, ****R h i a n d u r****, ****annabethchase993****, ****MelRose520****, ****Bookninja15****, ****C-Nuggets N.L****, ****Damon-salvatore-lover15****, ****TheLighteningThiefRocks****, ****ScarletGrcae45****, ****wolfpride.13****, ****Coqui's Song****, ****DobbyWeasley****cstar12****, ****PrincessAllison****, ****MewJollyRancher12****, ****Apollo 11o****, ****filmyfurry****, ****SeaweedBrain113097****, ****Alexandra Nightshade****, ****Firehawk97****, ****candy0304****, ****SeaweedBrain33****, ****XxJustxXbelieveXx****, ****SoccerGirl8****, ****Cherry Louise****, ****Julianna54321****, ****codebrak****, ****Chaoshime****, ****jahfreenalam****, ****MilashCayJeeWilloms****, ****the unnecessary****, ****dancergurl13**

**kldsn123: I sort of used your suggestion for this chapter, so thank you and I hope you like the way it was used.**

**And I am SO SO SO sorry that this got posted so late. My fanfiction account hasn't been letting me update this story. It kept saying I had some server error. Anyway, I'm back!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own PJO.**

**Annabeth POV**

"You two!" Mr. D barked at Percy and I. "Put out the fire and then go straight to bed!"

"Sir yes sir," Percy grumbled under his breath.

I couldn't help but crack a smile at that as Mr. D retreated back into the rather large chaperone tent. Everyone had just started parting from campfire and heading off to bed. It was our fourth night on the trip and the campfires since introductions were fairly normal. Some people were really tired from dancing around or singing really loud for the sing-a-long we had. I wasn't really tired from singing, but I haven't slept well in a long time and I knew tonight would be no different.

"Where's the bucket of water?" I asked Percy, glancing around for the pale I had seen just moments ago. The two of us had continuously gotten along over the past few days, even though we often bickered like little kids. There was almost nothing we could agree on, but we hadn't killed each other yet.

He reached behind one of the makeshift log benches and pulled up the bucket. "Got it. Do we just dump the whole thing on?"

"No," I told him before he could pour it all out. "You let the fire die down and then you splash bits of it on until the embers are all out."

Coming over toward me, he mimicked tossing all of the water on me. "Watch out."

"I wouldn't do that," I warned him. "I have pretty nasty ways of getting revenge."

He simply chuckled and dropped onto the ground. "So do we just have to wait for the fire to die?"

I sat down next to him. "Pretty much. I'm in no hurry to get to bed though."

His eyebrows furrowed together. "Why?"

I only needed one word for that explanation. "Nightmares."

"You still get them?"

"Yeah," I admitted quietly, feeling pretty weak when it came to a topic like this. Most people associate nightmares with silly things that children are afraid of. They clearly haven't lived my life.

"I do too," he confessed, making me feel a little less pathetic. "I have for years now."

I nodded in understanding. "They haven't stopped since I was seven. It's like mental torture; having to relive the worst parts of my life."

"I know what you mean," he empathized. "And this probably sounds stupid-"

"Most things you say do," I teased before realizing this was probably a bad time for a joke. "I'm sorry, that was uncalled for. Continue."

"It's okay; I do say some pretty stupid stuff sometimes. But do you ever feel like you're crazy for having nightmares. Like it's the mark of insanity."

"I always feel like I'm going insane," I murmured. "But I get what you mean." The fire was really low now, close to the embers we could put out.

"Let's make a deal," he told me.

I sighed. "I don't like deals; they never end well."

"A promise?"

"Promises always get broken anyway."

"Alright, Miss Negative. Can we just agree on something for once?"

I shrugged. "That depends on what you're asking."

He rolled his eyes at my stubborn ways. "Let's agree that when one of us has a nightmare, we can always go to each other. Because I know I need someone to talk to who can probably make sense of everything."

Under normal circumstances, I would've entirely shot down the idea. I still had no intention of sharing stuff about my life messed up life before I had to. Yet I couldn't help but wonder what Percy's story was. I knew my curiosity would be the death of me some day. I hated not knowing things.

"Agreed," I replied, feeling like I totally just walked myself into a trap. I'd known the kid for barely four days. Why would I want to tell him things when I hadn't even fully explained everything in court? All of it was just too overwhelming to talk about. Damn curiosity.

We put out the fire in silence before heading to our tents. Thalia was already snoring and I still wondered how she could be wearing a long-sleeved shirt and pants despite the hot weather. She had to be hiding scars or something. I would know; I still hide the few I have. I curled up in my sleeping bag, waiting for sleep to embrace. And my nightmares returned as predicted.

_It was the end of the school day and I was just putting my books away in my locker, trying to stay out of everyone's way. The less attention I gave, the less attention I brought onto myself. I hoped to keep things that way. Everybody in the building knew of me as the crazy child who had killed someone when I was only seven. For some reason though, this didn't make people back away from me. It made them want to test my limits and try and get a reaction out of me._

_I was only a sophomore yet I had changed schools so many times because of how often I would get bullied. I wanted to fight all of them back so badly, yet I knew that if I started even one fight I would get locked away immediately. They had let me go when I was seven after killing someone because it was self-defense and I barely even knew what was going on. I had to return to my parents though and they tried to act like I didn't belong to them. To them, I was a disgrace._

_Just as I was putting my last book into my locker, someone abruptly slammed it shut. I had pulled my hand back just fast enough that my finger only got slightly cut instead of slammed in the door. I whirled to find the two stereotypically bitchy cheerleaders in our school, Tammi and Kelli, standing there with their two huge boyfriends who were on the wrestling team. They didn't really scare me, but I knew things were really about to go downhill._

"_Well if it isn't our favorite delinquent," Tammi said in a sarcastically sweet voice._

"_I wouldn't taunt her like that, she might kill you," Kelli added on. Their boyfriends just laughed to boost their already elephant-sized egos. Aren't they so creative? I've heard all the jokes there is about murders. Very few of them are actually creative, some just tend to strike the right nerve._

"_Yeah, I'd really want to waste getting sent to jail on you," I spat, rolling my eyes. I would only get in trouble if I beat them up, so snarky remarks would have to do._

"_Did you just talk back to us?" Tammi snapped._

"_You figured that all out by yourself. Aren't you a big girl now?"_

_Kelli growled, "I wouldn't talk like that. We could easily make your life miserable here."_

"_Don't you do that anyway?"_

_Tammi simply waved this comment off. "Whatever. You shouldn't even be in this school. You should've been placed in some sort of mental institution."_

"_Maybe I should have," I told them. "You must've been to plenty. Can you recommend one for me?"_

_They were clearly fed up with me. And I must say I was quite proud of being able to make them mad so easily._

"_Boys," Kelli addressed the two wrestlers. "Take care of her for us."_

_One went to punch me, but I ducked under his fist and it slammed right into my locker. He hissed in pain and grabbed his hand while his friend lunged for me. I knew I wasn't going to be able to fend this one off without letting out my own attack. I couldn't do it though, that would only get me sent away. So his fist connected hard with my gut and I doubled over, gently pressing my hand over where I was sure a bruise would be forming._

"_Now you have your boyfriends do your fighting for you? That's really pathetic?" I snarled at the two cheerleaders._

_Kelli came and wrapped her hand around my shoulder and slamming my back against the lockers. Even though it hurt, I kept myself from showing any sign of pain. Her nails were digging into my shoulder blade, probably drawing blood._

"_If you keep rebelling against us like this, __**I'll **__be the one doing the killing," she hissed before stomping down the hall with her crew in tow._

I snapped upright in my sleeping bag to notice it was still dark out. The tent was starting to get unbearably hot though, so the sun must've been beginning to rise. I slipped out of the tent, not even bothering to change out of my raggedy t-shirt and sweatpants that were cut off to make shorts. My breathing was still uneven from my nightmare.

What made me feel even sicker to my stomach was that now I would have to somehow explain it to Percy. I could always lie, but that would just make me feel worse. There was so much I would have to explain to him for that nightmare to fully make sense and I so wasn't prepared for that. My head felt dizzy just from thinking about it.

In an attempt to clear my mind, I decided to just go for a walk in the surrounding woods. I didn't go too far so I could find my way back easily, but I probably should've went a little further so nobody would follow me. My mind was so out of place though that I didn't even think about it. I just paced for a few minutes in a small clearing I found until I heard bushes rustle behind me. Instinctively, I drew my knife. That was a huge mistake.

"And just what are you doing out here with that knife?" a voice called from the shadows.

Busted.


	7. Chapter 7

**Thanks to all who reviewed last chapter: ****C-Nuggets N.L****, ****LightningstormZero****, ****bubbly chick****, ****Alexandra Nightshade****, ****dancergurl13****, ****cstar12****, ****Bookninja15****, ****Chaoshime****, ****biancadiangelo0703****, ****ApollosFavoriteDaughter3927****, ****filmyfurry****, ****MelRose520****, ****BabyYou'reAllThatIWant****, ****SeaweedBrain113097****, ****Firehawk97****, ****weluvwaffles2218****, ****Coqui's Song****, ****storyteller1425****, ****HiThereSmiley****, ****biblioholic****, ****jahfreenalam****, ****PrincessAllison****, ****Julianna54321****, ****SoccerGirl8****, ****kldsn123****, ****juniper294****, ****courixoxo****, ****candy0304****, ****codebrak****, ****namelessgal22**

**I'm so sorry that my updating schedule has been terrible lately. But it seems like every time I get a chance to post, my account doesn't want to work with me. Anyway, I'll try to get back on track again as long as my account decides to continue cooperating. **

**I still don't own PJO.**

**Annabeth POV**

"And just what are you doing out here with that knife?" Chiron wheeled himself out from the shadows, eyes trained on the potential weapon in my hand.

For one of the few times in my life, I was tongue-tied. They could kick me off the trip for this and I hadn't even been on it five days. Then I would have to go to juvie and there was no way I could survive. Not that I wasn't tough enough, but I'm pretty confident I would go nuts there.

I finally managed to stutter out, "Sir…I'm so sorry about this. Don't kick me off the trip. Plea-"

He held up a hand in a gesture for me to be quiet. "I don't intend on kicking you off this trip unless you do something really bad. You have done nothing destructive with that knife. However, you also shouldn't have it with you."

I thought about what Thalia had told me a few days ago about how the chaperones thought some of our stories were good to learn from. Is that why he was so willing to keep me around? The fact that he wasn't kicking me off the trip made me so relieved that he caught me instead of one of the other chaperones. Either of them probably would've left me to die in the woods.

"I know," I told him before sighing. "I just couldn't part with it."

He took a deep breath. "Unfortunately for you, you have to part with it. I need to take it unless you wish to be taken off this trip."

Tough choice? Definitely. As crazy as it sounds, that knife was one of the very things that made me feel safe. Without it, I would probably be just as much of a wreck as I would be in juvie. Reluctantly, I went placed my knife in his outstretched hand. Since I wouldn't need it, I also unstrapped the sheath from my arm and handed it over. With it gone, I immediately felt jittery. A part of me was relieved that I was away from the weapon I had claimed lives with, but I knew that part of me wouldn't hold out long.

Chiron seemed proud of me though. "I won't mention this to anyone. If you choose to, that is your choice. I do think it would be a good idea though."

Not being able to form a proper response, I merely shrugged.

"Let's head back to the campsite. It is just about time for the others to awaken. And you can start your first day on knife withdrawal." He meant that to be joking, yet it just made me feel like I was in rehab.

We reached camp and he stowed my knife away in the chaperone tent before joining me near the fire pit that Percy and I had just been talking around hours ago. It felt like it had been forever since then. I knew I would have to explain my nightmare to Percy, but I couldn't. That nightmare was from when everything in my life started going south even more. I felt light-headed just from thinking about it. It was so tempting to go and wake Percy up just to see if he would be willing to break our agreement. Ugh, that sounds so selfish.

"Keep in mind that the people here are your friends," Chiron explained to me. Friends? I guess they were, but I had met them all of four or five days ago. That doesn't instantly mean I spill my heart out to them. "Their stories may help you. And remember that I know why you're here. Your story may be able to help others as well." With that, he rolled back into the chaperone tent.

**}{}{}{}{}{}{**

About an hour or so later, everyone was awake and spread out around camp, munching on various cereals for breakfast. All morning I was jumping out of my skin anytime something startled me slightly. Between my nightmare and my knife being taken, I was so panicky.

"Are you okay?" Percy asked, dropping onto the ground next to me. "You seem even more off than usual."

I took a ragged breath, running a hand through my blonde hair. "I'm just having a bad morning."

He paused, sucking down a spoonful of Lucky Charms that only seemed to have marshmallows in it. "Is that because of a nightmare?"

"Yes and no," I replied simply until he gave me a look that pretty much said 'Care to explain?'. "I did have a nightmare, but I'm used to those by this point. Something else happened this morning though."

There was a few seconds of silence before he spoke up again, "So…I'm not trying to pry, but are you going to tell me what else happened or would you like to just explain your dream to me?"

"Is there a 'neither' option?" I asked innocently. He gave me a skeptical look so I figured I might as well tell him _something_. I really was not in the mood to give him the whole back-story of my nightmare though. "I snuck a knife on this trip. It's the same knife I've killed people with. This morning, I slipped out of my tent to go for a walk to clear my head from my nightmare. There was a rustling noise in some bushes that startled me, so I drew my knife. It was Chiron though. If I didn't hand in my knife to him, he would've kicked me off this trip."

"You brought a knife on this trip?" Percy said in disbelief. "But you've killed people. Isn't that a really bad idea?"

The way he was talking to me made me feel like a total idiot. It sounded as if I had no idea that that was a bad plan on my part. Would I have bothered hiding it if I didn't know it was a stupid idea?

"You wouldn't understand," I growled.

I could feel his eyes on me, "I may not. But I'm willing to try to."

It can be so damn difficult to push people away sometimes. Percy could be the stupidest guy ever sometimes, yet he knew how to talk to people. He was able to get himself into their comfort zones with ease. I didn't want to explain myself to him, but I would feel bad if I didn't. He was trying hard to work with me, the least I could do was give him something to work with.

"That knife was probably the only thing that made me feel safe," I told him shakily. "I know it was bad for me to have after what I'd done with it. It was too hard to go without it though. With it, I felt guarded. Like that if I ever had to draw it against someone or something it would send off enough of a warning that whatever made me feel unsafe would back off. Not once did I ever intend on actually using it on someone. I guess I was wrong though."

Percy laughed a little. "Yeah, I was _way _off. How are you holding up without it though?"

"I think Chiron accurately described it as 'knife withdrawal'."

As if he had suddenly gotten an idea, he snapped to his feet and held his hand out to me. "Come with me."

Still reluctant to be in physical contact with anyone (especially since I was no longer armed), I pushed myself off from the ground in ignorance of his polite gesture. He didn't seem offended though as we walked across camp until he finally stopped. Nico and Luke were both asleep next to each other on their stomachs with their heads resting on their folded arms. Thalia had her head propped up on Nico's back and her legs laying on Luke's back. It was a pretty comical picture.

"You look comfy," I commented.

Thalia's head snapped in my direction and she chuckled. "These two are both crushing on me. I could get them to build me a freakin' castle in an hour if I wanted to. Most of the time it's annoying, but there's times like this when it pays off.

"I was wondering if you could do me a favor," Percy told her before correcting himself. "Actually, I was wondering if you could do her a favor."

"That depends on the favor," she proposed, looking mildly interested.

"She got busted for bringing a knife on this trip and Chiron confiscated it. She's a little lost. Do you have anyone in mind that could help her?" I almost snapped at him for telling her about my knife. I didn't care that she knew, but it wasn't his place to tell her. And he was asking for help for me as if I was a child.

I settled for glaring at him, "I can speak for myself."

"But you're too stubborn to go for help-" he began to counter.

Thalia abruptly interjected though, "Enough. Annabeth, if you do want to talk to someone I can help you. If you don't, that's your choice."

My eyes were still shooting daggers at Percy, "Fine. Who do you think can help me?"

She pointed to the sleeping Nico that she was still resting on, "I'll see if I can get him to tell you his story. It might change your perspective a little."

"If you think it'll help, thanks."

As I started to walk away Percy tried to talk to me, yet I just waved him off and kept going. It was probably immature on my part, but I didn't care at the moment. I was too busy wondering if things were ever going to get any better.

**This wasn't really my favorite chapter, but I've started writing the next one and I love where it's going. Get pumped for the next chapter because A) You will hear Nico's story and B) You will get a glimpse into many of other people's stories.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Thanks to all reviewed last chapter: ****biancadiangelo0703****, ****Chaoshime****, ****cstar12****, ****HiThereSmiley****, ****catroyal210****, ****nicoluvsme****, ****storyteller1425****, ****ApollosFavoriteDaughter3927****, ****Taylor Rose Ivashkov-Ozera****, ****Alexandra Nightshade****, ****TwinkleLights123****, ****MelRose520****, ****The Daughter of the Greek Gods****, ****SeaweedBrain33****, ****coconut1559****, ****Cherry Louise****, ****BabyYou'reAllThatIWant****, ****Wondering Hail****, ****codebrak****, ****Bookninja15****, ****filmyfurry****, ****Sunneshine123****, ****lilslybud****, ****Firehawk97****, ****ScarletGrace45****, ****bubbly chick****, ****C-Nuggets N.L****, ****namelessgal22****, ****biblioholic****, ****jahfreenalam****, ****weluvwaffles2218****, ****Coqui's Song**

**Lately some of you have been asking me if I will do a chapter in Percy's POV. I probably will, but not till later in this story. I'm still trying to keep up suspense with everyone's stories and Annabeth's POV is the best one to do that from. When more info about people is revealed, I probably will put in Percy's POV.**

**I still don't own PJO.**

**Annabeth POV**

"So, did Thalia talk to you?" I asked Nico awkwardly. Thalia had mentioned two days ago that if I needed it, she would talk to Nico to see if he would tell me his story. It took her two days, but she had told me earlier that morning that he had finally agreed. Though she did warn me that I better not laugh at him because he can get a little emotional when he tells his story.

"Yeah," he said quietly, slowing his walking pace a little.

We had all managed to get two cabins to stay in for the day and overnight since it was supposed to thunderstorm, but we had to hike a ways to them because the road didn't lead into the woods where they were located. All of the kids were going to stay in one cabin while the chaperones stayed in the other. That was probably a bad idea on the chaperone's part, yet none of us were about to argue.

My bag that held all my stuff clanked and rattled as I kept walking next to him. "I told her she didn't have to ask you. She insisted." I was secretly wishing he could help me though. I was still pretty shaky without my knife, but at least people here knew the meaning of the phrase 'back off'.

He grinned at this. "It's okay. I know she's just trying to help you. I don't tell my story that often either though so I'm just not sure where to start. Do you know what exactly she wanted me to tell you though?"

"I got something confiscated by the chaperones. I feel like I'm on withdrawal from it," I explained. "She said you knew all about withdrawal."

He made a face. "Not exactly. But I think I know what she meant." I gave him a few seconds before he started to tell his tale. "My sister and I were orphans. Our parents died when we were very little and we moved from foster home to foster home. She went out one night a couple of years ago to get me this game I had really wanted that she had saved up money for. She was really good to me even if I didn't realize it along the way. On her way back though, some guy was driving drunk and hit her with his car. He had also slammed into a building afterward and they never found my sister's body in all the wreckage. Even though there was no proof, I just knew in my heart she was dead."

I didn't see what this had to do with drugs or withdrawal at all, yet I really felt bad for him. My life sucked, but now I knew for a fact that I wasn't the only one on this trip with a crappy background.

"I'm sorry," I told him, noticing his eyes were wet with tears he was holding back. "If you don't want to explain, it's fine."

"I'm alright," he assured me before continuing. "I didn't take her death well at all. I ran away from the foster home I had been staying at and just lived on my own on the streets. I was always looking for a way to see her again. I don't even remember how, but I eventually came across one of those drugs that make you hallucinate like crazy. This may sound stupid, but my sister always appeared in my hallucinations when I took those drugs. I had found my way to see her again even though it wasn't real. I got so addicted because I refused to part with her or forget her."

I still didn't understand what this had to do with me, yet I rubbed circles gently on his shoulder as we hiked. I knew he had sold drugs, but I had no idea that he had taken them too. Tears were flowing freely down his face now and he seemed grateful that we had dropped back from everyone by a bit.

It was quiet for a little until he spoke again, "I'm sorry about this."

"Don't be."

"Anyway," he composed himself again, inhaling shakily. "I got busted by the cops and that was how I ended up on this trip last year. For half of the trip I was going through the toughest part of withdrawal. I had random breakdowns almost every other day and would be praying I could find those drugs so I could see my sister again to help me. Almost everyone on this trip thought I was a lunatic from my breakdowns."

"At least you sound like you got over your withdrawal," I said. "I'm only on day three without the one thing that made me feel safe and I feel like I'm having a heart attack every time something startles me."

"That sucks. You're wrong about one thing though. I'm not over my withdrawal; I'm still addicted." He glanced around before pulling a plain plastic bag out if his pocket. In it there was a bunch of little tablet-looking drugs. "During the first campfire I mentioned I was here for selling drugs. I needed money after this program ended last year and I still had my stash of the drugs I used. Even though I don't take them anymore, I kept them in stock and sold them as my excuse for keeping them around me. Truthfully, I just couldn't part with them. I couldn't part with the gateway to seeing my sister again. I still want them near me in case I ever really feel like I need to see her again."

Now I understood why Thalia redirected me to him. We both kept things that were dangerous to us close because we thought they helped us. But why does he get to keep his drugs when I had to hand over my knife?

"Nico," I warned in a gentle voice. "I know how you feel. And even though I hate not having my knife, I'm starting to realize that maybe it was bad for me. I think you should consider handing over your drugs. I won't rat you out if you promise to at least consider it."

He nodded in agreement. "I'll think about it. And my story better have helped. If not, I just let out my biggest secret for nothing."

I laughed and clapped him on the arm. "It did help. Thanks."

**}{}{}{}{}{}{**

Just a little while later we were all settling down in the cabin, calling bunks and setting up our stuff as the stormy weather rolled in. There was a bunch of bunk beds set up around the otherwise empty room and there were two small bathrooms. Thalia had saved us a bunk in the back corner, away from all of the commotion.

"You're taking top bunk," she ordered, tossing her duffel bag onto the bottom bunk. I wanted to question why she made it sound like I _had _to take it, but the way she said it left no room for questioning. It's a good thing I didn't mind taking the top bunk.

She went off to talk with Nico, who still seemed a little off from my chat with him. Almost as if they'd rehearsed it, Nico put his head on Thalia's shoulder the second she sat down next to him and she wrapped a comforting arm around him. I didn't get much more of a chance to dwell on his story because Percy appeared beside me just a few seconds later. We weren't annoyed with each other anymore, yet things were still tense between us from our tiny spat about him being a bit over-protective. We tried our best to ignore the awkward strain though.

"How was your hike here?" he asked with a goofy smile etched on his face.

"Interesting," I replied simply, yet honestly.

"Same," he said. "I tripped and nearly fell down one of the hills. It's a good thing I righted myself though. I was standing near Rachel and Beckendorf so if I went, they probably would've ended up tumbling down with me."

I chuckled and shoved him playfully. "You're such a klutz."

He pushed me back lightly which set us off into a little shoving match. We were both laughing so hard and got so caught up in our play fight that we hadn't even noticed everyone else had quieted down as Luke tried to get the attention of all of us.

"If you two could stop flirting for a second while I speak, that would be great," Luke spoke up to us at last. Flirting? My face got pretty red from blushing, but Percy got so red I was almost afraid something was wrong with him.

"Sorry," we both grumbled, scooting away from each other uncomfortably.

"As I was trying to say," Luke announced. "You have all probably noticed that today we don't have the chaperones with us. Because they are not with us, Chiron has asked that we do one activity in particular. He knows it can't be done around the chaperones because we definitely won't be honest with them." Many of us snickered at that. People from past years looked like they already knew what this activity was going to be. Other people here for their first year like me looked equally confused.

Since this was their third year as well, Thalia and Percy went and joined Luke in the center of the room.

"Pretty much the whole point of this activity is to show us all anything you might be hiding," Percy spoke up. "You can trust the rest of us not to tell the chaperones because you could use whatever we reveal against us. This only works if you're honest though. So please don't back out. We aren't asking for stories. If you have drugs or cigarettes or guns stored on you, all we are asking for is you to show everyone. We aren't looking for memories, just objects."

"Or scars," Thalia cut in. "I can tell some of you are hiding scars. Don't be afraid to strip down a bit and show everyone. Most of us have them too, so you shouldn't feel ashamed. And by strip down I don't mean completely." She narrowed her eyes accusingly at the Stolls.

"You're just jealous of our sexy bodies," Connor shot back.

"Why would I be?" she arched her eyebrow. "Are your boobs bigger than mine? Because I wouldn't take much pride in that if I were you." Neither of them had a witty retort, so this shut them up rather efficiently while some other people giggled.

"Anyway," Percy said, returning to the activity at hand. "Do we have anyone willing to go first?"

No one stepped forward. Percy, Thalia, and Luke seemed like they would be comfortable telling their own stories, yet it was evident they were looking for someone else willing to share. Normally, I don't mind being the first to do something but I didn't even know what I would have to show them all anyway since my knife got taken.

Finally, Clarisse stepped forward. Her eyes were landing on everyone pointedly as if daring them to comment. Pulling through her pockets, she dropped onto the floor a Swiss army knife and what looked like a taser. We all knew she was here for assault so none of us even bothered questioning why she had those. Then she turned her head away as Chris added a bag of drugs that looked similar to the ones Nico had onto the start of a pile on the floor. He got some curious glances for that, yet no one tried to get an answer out of him. We all knew not to push each other.

It took a few minutes for someone else to volunteer. Beckendorf came up even though I'm pretty sure his motive for doing so had to do with whatever I saw Silena whispering into his ear just seconds earlier. He tossed in an assortment of small pistols that came as no surprise because we all knew he was a weapons dealer. Silena skipped right up along next to him and put down some make-up and stuff she had been stowing in her bra. That caused a few laughs to come from everyone. Katie added a small gardening shovel to the assortment.

"Aren't you badass?" Travis mocked and Connor chuckled.

She punched him on the shoulder, "Be quiet."

They didn't make another remark even though they couldn't get the grins off their faces. The two of them decided to go up and start dumping out their pockets. Their stuff took up a lot of floor space but I'm pretty sure I saw some firecrackers, a couple of lighters, a small lock-picking kit, and what looked like a plain rubber chicken. Something told me that that chicken was more than what met the eye though.

A switchblade dropped from Luke's hand into the pile. So I guess I wasn't the only one on the trip lugging around a knife. Or had been in my case. It's a good thing that Thalia and Percy were distracted by a side conversation they were having so they didn't notice him adding the knife. Percy already hadn't been thrilled to know I had knife. Knowing someone else did probably wouldn't have helped him much.

Nico threw down his bag of drugs and retreated so fast no one even had a second to comment or gather up a questioning look. Rachel had some random art stuff with her like paints though we had no idea what that had to do with how she got sent here. Maybe it had nothing to do with it.

When people stopped coming forward, Thalia looked rather displeased. "How stupid do all of you think I am? I already told you that I can tell some of you have scars. Anyone going to step forward?"

No one did. She took a long, frustrated sigh and glanced at Percy. She seemed to be asking him something. It seemed kind of like 'me or you?'. He gave her an almost pleading look to which she simply nodded.

Without skipping a beat, she took off her baggy long-sleeve shirt and dark jeans so she was just in a black jogging bra and spandex shorts. It was incredible that she was so shameless about this. Jagged red scars were splattered across her pale skin. Some of them looked as if they were etched out carefully and painfully. On the back of her left shoulder she had a particularly thick scar that had one parallel on her front as if she'd actually been stabbed through. People who had most likely seen this from past years still seemed shocked. Luke's head was turned away but I could see his face twisted in pain.

This must have given Percy some confidence because he stepped up right after. With a deep breath he pulled his dark green t-shirt up over his head. My eyes probably bugged out of my head as I stared in shock. His back had burn marks running up and down. Some of the skin looked red and raw like so many layers had been damaged beyond repair. There wasn't a single scratch, yet the burns made his skin look forever inflamed and swollen. Thalia at least made it fairly obvious she was hiding scars; I would've never guessed Percy had any.

Thalia zeroed in on me, "Would anyone care to share now?"

There were some nervous glances darting around, and I decided to be the bold one to go forward. I kept trying to tell myself it wasn't a big deal. It's not like I had to explain them to anyone. Before I could over-think things, I cast my shirt aside so I was in my dark gray sports bra. Some people would feel vulnerable being dressed like that in front of others. That part didn't bother me though because in this generation girls seem to wear more revealing t-shirts than sports bras.

I did feel slightly vulnerable though because no one had ever really seen my scars except for the doctors that had worked on me. I didn't have a lot of them anyway. I had the mark from where that bullet had hit me. I had one scar running in a straight line up my ribs. I had a couple tiny slits on the back of my neck. The only other one I had curved from the top of my hip and the bottom of it was hidden by the waistband of my jeans. In terms of scars, I felt like I had nothing to complain about after seeing Percy and Thalia.

No one even stared at me much. Percy seemed like he wanted to explode out of curiosity yet to everyone else my scars seemed like nothing new. And I was perfectly okay with keeping things that way.

It turns out not many other people had a lot of scars. Clarisse had a couple but she really didn't seem like she had been trying to hide them. She actually seemed proud of them like they were proof of a fight well fought. Chris had a few on his upper arms. Silena had one that she had been making sure to cover up with her hair that ran from her left temple back down to her ear. Someone questioned Rachel about burns she had on her hands, but she denied them as scars because she just got them by accidently taking a piece of pottery out of the kiln before it cooled.

Since it was still thunder storming we weren't allowed to leave the cabin so everyone just slowly broke off. I was picking up my shirt and putting it back on when Percy came over.

He had playful smirk on his face as leaned down and whispered to me, "I just thought I should let you know that I am even more determined to figure you out now."

"Really?" I shot back in an equally playful yet at the same time serious tone. "Because there is a lot you're gonna have to figure out about me. But I probably should let you know that I'm trying to figure you out as well."

"Then I guess it's game on."


	9. Chapter 9

**Thanks to all who reviewed last chapter: ****biancadiangelo0703****, ****Alexandra Nightshade****, ****Chaoshime****, ****Owl of the Sea****, ****Taylor Rose Ivashkov-Ozera****, ****Firehawk97****, ****ScarletGrace45****, ****Wisegirl-Seaweedbrain****, ****LightningstormZero****, ****C-Nuggets N.L****, ****bubble drizzles****, ****HiThereSmiley****, ****storyteller1425****, ****R h i a n d u r****, ****jahfreenalam****, ****MelRose520****, ****TwinkleLights123****, ****BensonNYPD****, ****filmyfurry****, ****Bookninja15****, ****SoccerGirl8****, ****Coqui's Song****, ****Julianna54321****, ****SeaweedBrain113097****, ****namelessgal27****, ****BabyYou'reAllThatIWant****, ****codebrak****, ****ApollosFavoriteDaughter3927****, ****obsessivereader95****, ****Damon-salvatore-lover15**

**I still don't own PJO.**

**Annabeth POV**

As if my sleeping habits weren't already bad enough, the loud rumbling of thunder all night refused to let me slip into even a light slumber. I kept falling asleep for all of five minutes for a loud boom of thunder to awaken me once again. So I was surprised to say the least when I woke up at about four in the morning to find Percy's face about a foot from mine. With a tiny yelp, I jerked and nearly fell off my bunk. And I attempted to draw my knife only to grasp my arm and remember I didn't have it anymore. I managed to catch myself before I could go crashing to the floor and Percy had also placed his hand on my side to brace me so I didn't fall.

Before I could snap at him to get his hand off me, he snagged it back quickly. "Sorry."

"Sorry?" I whisper-shouted. "What the hell were you even doing? Watching me sleep?"

Even in the dark I could tell he was keeping his eyes from meeting mine. "I just had to make sure you were okay."

"Why wouldn't I be?" I asked curiously.

A bolt of lightning outside lit up the sky and the cabin, giving me a good look at Percy's face. His expression had the tired aspect a person usually has after winding down from a panic. Something had obviously been worrying him. Something about me.

"You had another nightmare, didn't you?" at my question, he climbed down from the ladder leading up to my bunk and simply nodded. "And it had to do with me?"

"Part of it did," he told me in a voice so quiet I almost didn't hear it over the pounding rain outside.

Figuring it was now or never to find some stuff out about him, I offered, "Do you want to talk about it?"

"Would you mind?" he asked.

I scaled down the ladder and landed next to him. "Not at all."

So we wouldn't wake anyone else up, I suggested we should go outside to talk. There was a little porch with an overhang out there so we wouldn't get soaked.

Percy put his arm out to block my path though. "I think that spot is already taken."

Looking out the window you could vaguely see the silhouette of two people talking out there. Glancing around, I noticed Thalia wasn't in her bunk and neither was Luke. So that was how Percy and I ended up sitting in one of the cramped bathrooms to talk. I was sitting on the counter around the sink while Percy sat opposite me on the closed toilet.

We sat in silence for a few minutes before he finally decided to speak. "Do you know what it's like to think you lost someone you really care about?"

Do I know what it's like to lose someone I care about? It was hard not to let out a hollow laugh at the irony.

"Yeah," I admitted. "And it hurts."

"I've thought I lost people before," he continued. "Worrying about them was enough to nearly make me go crazy. Now it seems like my nightmares just put me in these situations where I have to feel that over and over again. And when I wake up, those feelings just seem so real I almost can't tell if it really happened."

"I was in your nightmare tonight," I led on and he nodded to let me know I was right. "And you didn't know if I was okay because of it?"

"Pretty much," he confirmed. "I'm still sorry I freaked you out. I just had to check and make sure you weren't hurt or gone."

He already had a bad case of bed-head, but I reached forward and ruffled his hair some more. "Well don't worry. Thanks to this oh-so-fantastic trip, I'm not going anywhere anytime soon." This caused his mouth to twitch up in a grin. "Out of curiosity though, what did you think happened to me?"

Then he gave me that deer-caught-in-headlights look. "Um…well you got caught in a building that was on fire. The last part of it was you screaming and the burning roof collapsed on you. I know it sounds crazy."

I didn't think it sounded crazy, but that might just have been because I have had weirder dreams. Yet by the slight stammer in his voice I could tell he wasn't saying everything that there was to be said. He said that I had been trapped in a fire, and I knew he had all of those terrible burns on his back. Could the two have been linked somehow?

I must've gotten caught up in my thoughts because next thing I knew, Percy was snapping his fingers in front of my face. "Earth to Annabeth, are you okay?"

"Yeah," I assured him. "I was just thinking."

He laughed a little, "You do _way _too much thinking."

"I know. Are you feeling any better now that I think I have proven I am alive and well?"

"You convinced me that you're alive. But you haven't completely convinced me that you are well." He locked his eyes on mine desperately like he was begging me to just tell him something. "A few days ago you told me you had a nightmare. Then you told me about your knife instead. What was your nightmare about?"

I swallowed hard. "It was just an average relive-the-worst-parts-of-your-life nightmare."

"I guessed that much. Care to explain more?"

"I promise you that I'll explain everything to you at some point," I told him. "But can you just give me some time?" I know; I just keep postponing the inevitable.

Though he seemed reluctant, he sighed. "Sure. And even though you probably don't want to hear it, things would get so much better for you if you opened up."

That didn't change my mind at all, yet I nodded respectfully. "So, are you heading back to bed now?"

He stood up and since the bathroom allowed very little personal space, he was practically hovering over me. It was uncomfortable to say the least. He was close enough that when he spoke I could feel his breath on me. "There's no way I would be able to sleep between this storm and my nightmares. I'm probably going to go lay down on my bunk though. It's a lot nicer than sitting on that toilet."

"I'll have to take your word for that."

Then I made the mistake of standing up. This caused for even less room and we were literally pressed up against each other. When I looked up to meet his eyes I had to be careful so I didn't bump my nose into his chest. That's just how close that damn bathroom forced us near other. I didn't even have my knife, so my hand was twitching like crazy.

"Thank you," he said sincerely. "I'm sorry I woke you up."

Desperate to get out of the tight room, I quickly spat out, "No problem."

Since we were leaving he turned the lights off and my whole body was wound unbelievably tight. Then he opened the door and I practically scurried out, inhaling sharp breaths through my nose so I would calm down.

"Good night," he called quietly and I could hear the rustle of sheets as he settled back into his bunk.

"Sweet dreams," I joked and he laughed softly in reply.

As I climbed back up and attempted to go to sleep, I noticed that Thalia and Luke were still outside. The rain was still pattering loudly on the roof, but their voices resonated fairly well through the walls. It didn't really help that my bunk was right next to the window as well. I didn't mean to eavesdrop. But when you have absolutely nothing else to do, eavesdropping makes things so much better.

"I'm still so sorry though," Luke's voice sounded shaky, as if he were on the verge of a breakdown.

However, Thalia's was much more together and confident. "I'm aware. You tell me this year after year. It doesn't change things though. I've told you a billion times that I forgive you, but I still can't-"

"Trust me." He finished for her. "I can't blame you. It's just hard for me too. Especially when I have to see your scars like I did earlier."

"As for that, you're just going to have to suck it up," she demanded. "They're a part of me. If you still want to be around me, you're going to have to learn to deal."

He sighed. "Believe me when I say I don't plan on parting myself from you any time soon."

"Then I guess everything is settled. Can I go back to sleep now or do you still need to mope for another hour?"

It wasn't long before the front door clicked open and closed again, signaling their reentry. They shuffled over near Thalia's bunk right below mine and I could hear them much more clearly now.

"I can't wait for what we have planned for the newbies tomorrow," Thalia stated, amusement evident in her voice. I knew that I was considered a newbie on this trip, and anything Thalia was planning against didn't sound like it would be fun for me at all.

Luke chuckled, "You shouldn't talk. You freaked out when they did it to us our first year."

I heard what sounded like Thalia hitting him with her pillow. "Shut up. We have to do it early though or else the chaperones will freak out on us. They almost stopped us last year."

"Yeah. Set an alarm on your watch for pretty early. Then wake up the rest of us and we can get this show on the road."

"If we're getting up again in a little while, we should get some sleep. Good night."

"Good night, Thals."

That conversation left me pretty confident that I was in for a very rude awakening tomorrow morning.


	10. Chapter 10

**Thanks to all who reviewed last chapter: ****kldsn123****, ****ScarletGrace45****, ****XX TEARS DON'T FALLXX****, ****ApollosFavoriteDaughter3927****, ****percabeth4evr****, ****bubbly chick****, ****nicoluvsme****, ****Riley Coyote****, ****HiThereSmiley****, ****jahfreenalam****, ****Chaoshime****, ****storyteller1425****, ****Firehawk97****, ****C-Nuggets N.L****, ****biancadiangelo0703****, ****MelRose520****, ****amy-x-ian-forever****, ****filmyfurry****, ****Alexandra Nightshade****, ****BabyYou'reAllThatIWant****, ****ILove2Write13****, ****boxtoplad999****, ****lilslybud****, ****Julianna54321****, ****SoccerGirl8****, ****obsessivereader95****, ****DammitimmaD****, ****candy0304****, ****percabeth4everandeverandever****, ****theswagsisters****, ****TMI****, ****RainyVapor-Daughter-of-Hestia****, ****Coqui's Song****, ****Bookninja15****, ****DCThunder2107****, ****Lives2fly****, ****codebrak**

**I'm so sorry I haven't updated in like forever. The only chance I got to write though, I was having total writer's block. So I figured I could either have you guys wait and give you a good chapter, or if I had posted it earlier it would've been really crappy. So I apologize for the wait, but I hope you think it's awesome.**

**I don't own PJO.**

**Annabeth POV**

"_Mom?" Bobby asked as my family sat at the table eating dinner one night._

"_Yes sweetie?" she replied as she gobbled down a forkful of spaghetti._

_Meanwhile, I was staring blankly at my plate as I munched on some garlic bread. Most of the time I didn't bother to listen to the conversations while we ate; it's not like any of them wanted me involved anyway._

_Bobby didn't even bother to finish chewing his own pasta before speaking. "Me and Matthew keep getting picked on at school. Bullies keep saying that we are going to be crazy killers. They say it runs in the family. What's that supposed to mean?"_

_I guess I forgot to mention that when I wasn't being ignored at dinner, I was being targeted. Because hearing things like this would always guarantee a nice argument between my step-mom and I, and my dad would just continue to sit there mutely. I couldn't blame Bobby and Matthew for asking though. They were too young when I killed that creep to even remember any commotion that was caused because of it._

"_They're just being silly," my step-mom lied smoothly since she was used to it by now. "You two haven't done anything wrong." At the end of her sentence, she shot me a sharp glare. I returned it with a glare of my own from under my curtain of curly blonde hair._

_I looked at my two twin brothers sympathetically, "Just ignore them. I'll protect you if things start going too far." They weren't the most understanding brothers ever, but I was willing to defend them if they were getting picked on because of me. They were only eight years old after all._

"_You will do no such thing," she snapped at me. "We all know your means of protection aren't exactly civil."_

_I clenched my fist under the table. "You must love the fact that I did something like that __**by mistake **__when I was so young. You just use it as a justifiable cover to hate my guts."_

"_How can you sit there and try and make it sound like I'm the problem here? I'm not the one who has broken the law." While this little spat was going on, my brothers seemed to be completely oblivious as they smeared spaghetti sauce on each other's faces._

_With a roll of my eyes, I growled, "And how can you sit there and act so innocent? Maybe I wouldn't have ended up hiding out in that house if you weren't such a cold-hearted little-"_

"_Annabeth," my dad cut me off abruptly in a cold tone. "You have to stop this arguing with your stepmother. You know your real mom wouldn't have wanted things this way."_

_By that point I could feel my anger building up. My mom was always a touchy subject for both of us. She had left us when I was pretty young and things slowly went south from there. I missed her so much even though I felt like she ditched us. When my dad brought her up though, I always felt as if it was just to mess with me. Because I knew he would rarely want to bring her up, especially in front of his wife._

_I got up out of my chair and slammed it back in place under the table. "Mom wouldn't have wanted you guys to make me run away in the first place." _

_With that, I stormed up to my room to get away from them. It wasn't long though until I heard the soft pitter-patter of footsteps outside my door. Before there could even be a single knock, I went and opened the door for Bobby and Matthew to come in. Every time I argued with my parents they came to me not long after I left. They were always hoping for me to explain the fights since they never had any clue what was going on. They only knew it would piss my parents and me off._

"_What was this fight about?" Bobby asked as they sat down next to each other on my bed. They both looked so sad and confused._

_Pinching the bridge of my nose, I let out a long sigh. "You guys still wouldn't understand. I meant what I said though; I'll protect you if those kids don't leave you alone."_

"_Even though mommy said not to," Matthew countered._

_With a wry grin, I bent down and pulled them both into a hug. "Especially since mommy said not to."_

When I woke up, I didn't feel particularly panicky like I do from most of my nightmares. From that one, I just felt sort of groggy and numbed. I had a dull desire to cry nagging at the back of my mind, but I was too out of it. I barely even noticed the whispers going on nearby. I thought I was just imagining them until something blocked my vision and I could feel my ankles being tied together. That was the point where I started panicked.

Instantly I threw a few wild punches forward, yet none of them made contact. I tried to kick out with my legs but it wasn't very effective since they were tied together. Before I could scream, a gag was shoved in my mouth. Even as I continued to struggle, whoever was trying to take me managed to tie my hands together and bring me down from my bunk. The door of the cabin clicked shut as we walked out with two people carrying. One set of hands had my feet while the other set was supporting my back and head.

My breath was coming out in quick hisses and I felt a little light-headed from the shock. Could I really have been put back in danger so fast? I found it odd that seemed to be being fairly gentle with me (minus the whole tying me up thing) as they carried me hurriedly. That didn't stop me from thrashing around and being very uncooperative though. I was swearing like a sailor in my head for not having my knife. If I had it I could've been out of these ropes and would've taken these people down in no time.

After a little more running, and jolting around on my part, felt myself being passed upward. A different pair of arms gathered me up bridal style and I was put down somewhere. If it was possible, I took this as an even worse sign. Where they just going to leave me to die? Did they put me down so they could get some crazy-ass weapons to harm me with? A part of me thought that maybe this was just karma for the fact that I had killed people. It sucked that I would be getting this payback when I had just started making some real friends in that STRUCK program even though it was a stupid trip.

You could certainly say I was surprised when some untied my hands and took my blindfold off. I was sitting on top of some random eight-foot tall, shed-looking structure that overlooked a lake with Silena, Beckendorf, Rachel, Chris, and Katie. I was trying to figure out why they were there with me until I realized that we were all first-year kids on the trip. Thalia's words from last night hit me like a truck. _"I can't wait for what we have planned for the newbies tomorrow"._

I scrambled to the edge of the structure and looked down. All of the other kids in the program were dressed in bathing suits down there, looking like they were having a hard time containing their laughter. After looking at me for a few seconds, they all just couldn't hold it anymore. And I noticed too late that they were all armed with water balloons as well. A wave of them soared onto the roof, completely soaking us all. That would have been so bad if it was a hot morning. But it was cool and breezy and the water felt as if it had been iced for a while. Silena lucked out. Beckendorf didn't care if he got wet so he caught all of the ones that flew at her. He just needs to make out with her already.

"What the hell is going on?" I asked after I got the gag out of my mouth and they stopped throwing water balloons.

Nico was still chuckling as he spoke up. "Every year the newbies get 'kidnapped' in their sleep and have something done to them. Last year we got duct-taped to the side of building in a town nearby. The people walking by were so freaked out."

I was still beyond confused, but Katie voiced one of my questions for me. "And why are you all dressed in bathing suits? I'm pretty sure we were the ones who just got soaked."

Percy stepped forward and I couldn't help but think of the vicious burns on his back as he stood there shirtless in just his swim trunks. "The lake's right there. We planned on just going swimming after."

"Does that mean we can get down now?" Rachel asked.

Thalia just grinned. "Not just yet. The chaperones always find out we did this and they usually aren't too thrilled about it. They let us get away with it though because we try to incorporate some sort of activity they would do on this trip. We decided to make this into a trust fall as well. That's why you're up there."

"A trust fall?" Silena said in disbelief. "I think I did that in gym in third grade."

"We know it's stupid." Luke informed us. "But we need it as an excuse to get away with this. Just think of it as like stage-diving."

All of us on the roof glanced around at each other to see who was willing to go first. I was still busy unwinding the rope from my ankles so I obviously wasn't first. Chris volunteered reluctantly after about a minute. He put his back toward them as they lined up to catch him and then he allowed himself to tip back off the structure. They all caught him easily and then the Stoll brothers tried to throw him to the ground just for laughs. Clarisse caught Chris though and sent the two of them a murderous glare.

Rachel went to the edge and shouted down. "Can I try doing a back flip off this?"

They all cheered in approval of the idea and so she attempted a back flip. The key word being 'attempted'. The back flip seemed more like some weird twist-type thing, but they still caught her anyway. I was about to step forward to go next. Silena stood as well, so I let her go first.

"Send Beckendorf with her," Luke yelled from the ground. "They're barely ever separated anyway. We might as well try to catch them both at once."

"Isn't that a little dangerous?" Katie pointed out.

She got the mutual response of "Who cares?" from a bunch of us.

So Beckendorf and Silena went off the side together hand-in-hand. A few of the people below yelped slightly in pain as the weight of two people made contact with their arms. They were gritting their teeth, but they managed to still catch them safely. This left just Katie and I on the roof.

"You can go," I told her so she went to the side with only slight hesitation and fell back. They caught her successfully, but the Stoll brothers decided to have some fun. Everyone else had let go of her so they ran with her still in their arms and tossed her out into the lake. She had already been wet from the water balloons, yet that didn't make her any less angry with them.

"I swear to god that one day I'm going to get you both back!" she threatened when she resurfaced.

Percy looked at Katie in the water and then looked at me with an evil smirk on his face.

"You wouldn't dare," I tempted him.

"I take that as a challenge," he replied.

"You wouldn't."

"Wanna bet?"

"You better not."

"And if I do?"

"You really shouldn't try me."

"I don't take that as a reason not to."

I went and stood at the edge and I couldn't help the slight doubt of them catching me creep up on me. I knew the Stoll brothers would drop me just for fun any day, but I should've been able to trust the rest of them to catch me. Before I could over-think things, I let myself fall of into their arms. The impact hurt a little, yet they caught me with ease.

And I already knew what was coming next. Percy swept me from the rest of them and started running toward the lake with me in his arms bridal-style. He was pretty fast about it, but I thought faster. Just as he was releasing me to sail into the lake, I wrapped my arms around his neck and he pitched forward into the water with me.

When we resurfaced, I looked him dead in the eye. "I was already wet from the water balloons, so I believe you just got owned."

He merely grinned, "Actually, I love water. So maybe we both win."

The way he said that we both win sounded almost as if he was hinting toward something else. I couldn't figure out what he meant exactly but I could tell it was flirty. We were just staring each other down for a good minute until everyone else came jumping into the lake to join us.

We were all swimming around in the lake for a while, even though it was freezing. We eventually hiked back to camp, where the chaperones looked a lot less than pleased with us. They told ordered us all to go change and then go sit outside the cabin because they had news for us.

"Attention you little brats!" Mr. D howled to get us to quiet down.

"Today we have our first mail day," Chiron announced in a much calmer tone. "If any of you have been anticipating something from your friends or family, you will finally be getting it today. We have had some of your stuff for a few days and we got some of your stuff just yesterday." Mrs. Dodds walked out of the cabin and we all did a double-take having not realized she had gone in at some point. "Mrs. Dodds has left your mail on your bunks, so feel free to go and open it. Be back out here in fifteen minutes to get on the bus and head out."

I wasn't expected any mail so I was very confused when I saw a single letter lying on my pillow. I didn't bother climbing up to my bunk; I simply reached up and grabbed the letter. The first thing I noticed was the return address: my house. That meant it was either from my step-mom or dad. Neither of those could mean anything good.

Once I read letter, my world seemed to crash down even further than it already had. My eyes raked across the paper multiple times to see if there wasn't any indication that my dad had just written this as some cruel joke. It wasn't though. I quickly disappeared into one of the bathrooms and simply broke down.


	11. Chapter 11

**Thanks to all who reviewed last chapter: ****biancadiangelo0703****, ****XX TEARS DON'T FALLXX****, ****theswagsisters****, ****jahfreenalam****, ****Coqui's Song****, ****mavk4444****, ****xxAirplanesInTheNightSkyxx****, ****BabyYou'reAllThatIWant****, ****biblioholic****, ****demigod-wannabe-love****, ****boxtoplad999****, ****ILove2Write13****, ****Chaoshime****, ****MewJollyRancher12****, ****Perseus12****, ****Firehawk97****, ****bubbly chick****, ****lilslybud****, ****namelessgal27****, ****ixdookiie****, ****storyteller1425****, ****nicoluvsme****, ****Riley Coyote****, ****HiThereSmiley****, ****ReadrOfBooks****, ****C-Nuggets N.L****, ****Julianna54321****, ****Bookninja15****, ****ApollosFavoriteDaughter3927****, ****filmyfurry****, ****Alexandra Nightshade****, ****MelRose520****, ****starglow13****, ****SeaweedBrain113097****, ****SoccerGirl8****, ****mechanical-cat-is-rusty****, ****obsessivereader95****, ****candy0304****, ****demigod90210****, ****Ewang1**

**I don't own PJO.**

**Annabeth POV**

My body was shaking with sobs as I sat on the cold tile floor of the cramped bathroom where I had been talking with Percy only hours ago. I knew I needed to leave because the program was heading out soon, but I couldn't force myself to stop hyperventilating, nonetheless get up and face them all. It was practically torture sitting there with the words my dad had written floating around in my head. If I hadn't been so rooted to that spot, I would've jumped when there was a sudden knock on the door.

"Annabeth?" Thalia's voice echoed from the other side of the door. "Are you okay?" I didn't respond. When I attempted to say something to make her think everything was fine, I couldn't get my vocal chords to work. "I'm giving you ten more seconds to speak to me or I'm coming in."

Those ten seconds seemed unbearably long. I was bracing myself for her entry and the questioning that would most likely follow it. She finally barged in and clicked the door shut behind her. There wasn't much room in there so if I had been anywhere else but the back corner, she probably would've tripped over me.

She didn't even show surprise of my state. Instead, she just plopped down next to me and started rubbing soothing circles on my back. I was reluctant to let her at first, but I was so lost in my mind I barely even registered that she was there. My vision was a little blurred and I knew I would pass out if I had to do much more than sit there in and cry. It sucked to feel so weak when all I ever tried to do was be strong.

Minutes passed like that until Nico called from outside the bathroom, "Is everything okay?"

Thalia forced my head up for my still-tearing eyes to meet her steely ones for a second before deciding, "Can you get Percy for me?"

I didn't hear his response because I surrendered into another fit of sobs that I had been holding back. At this, Thalia attempted to calm me further, but it was to no avail. Nothing anyone said could fix what was in that letter. The door to that infernal bathroom opened again, yet it didn't click shut.

Percy was standing in the doorway. "Everyone has left to start hiking back to the buses. What's wrong?"

Since I still couldn't even think straight, Thalia spoke instead, "I think it has to do with the mail she got. I might be wrong, but it seems like all of her stress is finally getting to her."

"Well, how do we fix her?" _Fix _me? What great word choice on his part.

It was unnecessary for me to see Thalia to figure out that she was probably rolling her eyes. "Let's just work on getting her to the bus first. Annabeth, do you feel like you are going to pass out?"

I managed to croak out a tiny, "Yeah".

"Then it looks like we're going to have to get her to the bus somehow and it's like a mile away." Percy was sounding really worried for some reason and it was kind of bothering me. What the hell did he have to worry about?

"You carry her," Thalia ordered. "I'll carry all of our stuff."

Thalia swiftly left to most likely get our bags and Percy knelt down next to me. "Can I pick you up or are you going to freak out because I'm touching you?"

I grumbled some sort of agreement.

He chuckled a little. "I guess I'll take that as a 'you better not drop me'." As much as I didn't want to, I cracked a watery smile at his joke. "At least I still have you smiling."

For the entire hike to the bus, I felt terrible. Because of the letter. Because of the fact that Thalia had to carry all of our stuff to the bus. Because Percy had to haul my useless ass for a mile. Because I let myself seem so damn weak. Because I was letting things of my past get to me so much. In other words, I was having a really crappy day.

I still wanted nothing more than to just let myself pass out so I could escape reality for just a little while by the time we were loaded up onto the bus. Percy sat next to me in one of the seats and Thalia sat in the seat across the aisle.

"Drink this," Thalia commanded me, handing over a bottle of water. I didn't see the point at first, but then thought maybe I was a little dehydrated and could use it. It didn't help the sick churning in my stomach or my pounding head ache though. "Do you still feel like you are going to pass out?"

"A little bit," I practically whispered.

"Then maybe you should just get some rest. We're probably going to be on this bus overnight anyway."

She didn't need to tell me twice. I curled up on the seat and began to doze off immediately. Just before I slipped into unconsciousness, I could've sworn I felt an arm (which I was betting belonged to Percy) wrap around my huddled form. By that point I was too far gone to do anything anyway.

**}{}{}{}{}{}{**

I still wasn't feeling all that great when I woke up to Percy's joking voice calling, "Look who's alive."

"Shut up," I grumbled, sitting up in the seat a bit. Until I realized I was no longer leaning against the seat, I had been leaning against Percy. I instantly flinched away from him. "Sorry."

"It's okay," he assured me. "Not too long after you fell asleep you ended up resting against me. I know you don't like being in close contact with people, but I didn't want to wake you. I figured I should let you stay peaceful for as long as you could."

"Thanks," I told him, grinning slightly. It was only then did I notice it was night out and everyone else, even the chaperones, was asleep on the bus. "Why are you still awake? Everyone else is asleep already."

"Not everyone is asleep," he pointed out. "And you're not the only one who gets a bit troubled on mail day."

"Who else is still up?"

He pointed to the now-empty seat across the aisle. "Thalia's mail was really bad too. She didn't get the chance to read it until you were already asleep though. She went to talk with Nico in the back of the bus."

"Is she okay?"

To this he simply shrugged. "She's tough, she'll get over it." And then he looked me directly in the eye. "And you'll get over whatever you read in that letter too."

"Wait a minute," I said, realization hitting me. "Your letter didn't bring good news either, did it?"

A sad smile played on his lips. "It wasn't bad news. It was just a little sad to read." That didn't make much sense to me, but I didn't bother to argue. "Since you don't seem to want to keep the nightmare deal we had, can I make another one with you?"

"What's the deal?"

"I read your letter aloud and you read mine."

That was not an easy choice to make. I wanted to find out what was in his letter. And I also thought that maybe it would be better for me if I started giving him glimpses into my life. He wasn't the brightest kid ever, but he had experience with bad lives. Maybe he could actually help. By that point, what did I really have to lose anyway?

"Deal," I agreed and handed him my letter.

He pulled his own letter out of his bag and handed it to me. "You can read mine first if you want." I can't even explain how relieving that offer was.

Opening the letter, I noticed the words were scribbled on with blue crayon. Without skipping a beat, I started reading the letter aloud. "Dear Percy. Mommy already told me that you can't reply to this letter, but I hope you are having fun on your trip. I can't wait for you to come home so we can eat peanut-butter and ride ponies. I try hanging out with Goat Boy but he still scares me. It's not the same without you here anyway. I hope you can come home soon. Your brother, Tyson." I arched my eyebrow at Percy. "You have a brother?"

At this he smiled for real. "Well, Tyson's my half-brother. He's younger than me, yet you would never know if you just saw him. He's like twice my size. And even though he calls my mom 'mommy', he's actually from my dad's side. My mom has just been his only maternal figure in his life."

"You sound like you really care about him."

"I do. One of the reasons I was sent here had to do with, in a way, me trying to protect him."

"And, out of curiosity, who's Goat Boy?"

He threw back his head in a laugh. "One of my friends. It's just his nickname. Don't ask."

"I'm not so sure I even want to know." I glanced at my letter still folded in his hand. "You might want to read that before I freak out and back out on my end of the deal."

"Alright." He opened the letter to start reading and I held my breath, praying I wouldn't break down again. "Dear Annabeth. Your stepmom didn't want me to inform you of this, but I feel that you have a right to know. They found Bobby and Matthew. I'm sorry to tell you that they are both dead. Even though you don't want to hear it, this is hard for me to. They were both my sons. Their funeral will happen before you return home though. I know that you probably don't even want to come home, yet I would be glad to have you back. I shouldn't have treated you the way I did and I'm sorry. If you choose to forgive me and live at home with me again, contact me as soon as you can. Believe it or not, I miss you. You were right; your mom wouldn't have wanted things this way. Love, your father."

My eyes began to tear up big time. Even though I had suspected they were dead, the slight chance they weren't was the sliver of hope I had been clinging to. When I had first read the letter, it felt like everyone and everything had just crashed down around me. But with Percy having read it and having been comforting me all night, it wasn't so painful. It still hurt, yet not nearly as much.

"You had two brothers?" Percy asked, finally breaking the silence. I nodded. "And they were missing?" I nodded again. "And now they're dead?"

"I guess so," I replied in a shaky voice.

"It's okay though," he assured me. "We're all here to help you. And your dad sounds like he cares about you."

I shook my head in denial. "I doubt it. I have no idea why he wrote all that crap."

"Why not give him a chance?"

"Can we just drop this for now?" I pleaded. I had enough of the heart-to-heart junk for one night.

"Fine," he allowed. "But don't think this is over. I still haven't figured you out yet."

I gave off a humorous laugh. "I know this isn't over. You seem to have forgotten that I'm trying to figure you out too."

"Now that that's settled; I think it would be best if we both got some sleep." For a few seconds, he seemed to be debating whether or not to do something. Finally, he planted a soft kiss on my forehead. "Good night."

As much as I tried to fight it and let my misery win over, I couldn't help but let a smile appear on my face. "Good night."

**Some of you may now be even more confused after reading that chapter, but that's all the fun of suspense…**


	12. Chapter 12

**Thanks to all who reviewed last chapter: ****demigod-wannabe-love****, ****SeaweedBrain113097****, ****ReadrOfBooks****, ****Perseus12****, ****DammitimmaD****, ****ixdookiie****, ****bubble drizzles****, ****Firehawk97****, ****Bookninja15****, ****lilslybud****, ****I'm A Weirdo Deal With It****, ****demigod90210****, ****C-Nuggets N.L****, ****Skywriter5****, ****Chaoshime****, ****ScarletGrace45****, ****catroyal210****, ****XX TEARS DON'T FALLXX****, ****ApollosFavoriteDaughter3927****, ****HiThereSmiley****, ****ILove2Write13****, ****Julianna54321****, ****southern sweetie****, ****filmyfurry****, ****Cherry Louise****, ****biancadiangelo0703****, ****boxtoplad999****, ****frostfeatherFTW101****, ****SoccerGirl8****, ****MelRose520****, ****obsessivereader95****, ****DaughterofHades101****, ****Alexandra Nightshade****, ****candy0304****, ****ancientdragonduelist****, ****Sunneshine123****, ****silverblaze011**

**I don't own PJO.**

**Annabeth POV**

I thought girls were supposed to be the confusing ones. But apparently there are some exceptions to that. And in case you haven't already guessed, the exception I'm talking about is Percy Jackson. The morning after our talk on the bus, he was being really awkward with me. He barely said two words and seemed as wound tight as possible whenever I was in a five-foot radius. I know he sort of kissed me last night which is closer than we usually get with each other, but there are two reasons why that shouldn't cause him to be awkward with me. 1) He only kissed my forehead, it's not like we made out for god's sake. 2) If anything, _I _should be the one feeling awkward around _him_. So you could say I was a bit annoyed by the time our chaperones started our activity of the day.

"Quiet down you little demons!" Mr. D's voice echoed off the trees. The bus had pulled into some rest stop out in the woods with a tiny park, so we were getting some weary looks from other travelers that were in the area.

"Thank you, Mr. D," Chiron said although he didn't sound too thankful. "For today's activity you will be in already-chosen pairs and one group of three. You and your partner will be bound by your wrists-"

To this, Travis shouted out, "Kinky!"

Chiron rolled his eyes while everyone else laughed before rephrasing himself, "You and your partner will be tied together by your wrists. You will have half an hour to wander around the park and surrounding woods. During this time, we want you to find out two things about your partner that no one else on this program knows. And it can't be something stupid. For example, you can't say you learned that your partner likes kittens."

"Well there goes the one I had in mind!" Connor yelled out.

"That is truly a shame, Connor," Chiron told him sarcastically. "Anyway, here is the list of pairs. Clarisse and Silena, Nico and Rachel, Annabeth and Luke, Chris and Beckendorf, Katie and Travis, and our group of three will be Connor, Percy, and Thalia."

Thalia looked about ready to stab herself. "Are you sure that's a good idea? I think I'll kill them by the end of the activity."

"Then you get to go in between so both your wrists get tied," Percy suggested. "That way you won't really be able to use your hands to massacre us." This idea didn't make her look any more enthusiastic. They somehow got her to agree though once they got the two pieces of rope to use.

Luke came over with a pretty long strand of rope in his hands. Thankfully he tied it so it was more like a set of handcuffs. Both of our wrists were lassoed and there was a piece of rope serving as a slight distance between us. Being tied to someone was already bad enough for me. If there wasn't that bit of a gap, I probably would've gotten all panicky and started wishing for my knife.

"Hopefully you won't try and kick my ass during this," Luke told me. "Every year I get paired with a girl that ends up trying to beat me up. I accidentally ticked Clarisse off last year and I got a split lip out of the whole fiasco."

I chuckled before asking, "Who beat you up your first year?"

"Thalia."

"Somehow that doesn't surprise me. What did you do to make her?"

He shrugged as we started walking away from the group and off into the woods. "I don't really remember. We weren't really on the best terms going into this activity though, so it could've been almost anything."

"That makes sense."

"Yeah. Anyway, I forgot to ask you how you're feeling. I noticed you were quite shaken up yesterday after you got your mail."

"Um…yeah," I stammered. "I'm doing a lot better now though."

"How? Did Percy kiss it all better?" he teased.

I punched him hard on the shoulder with my free hand. "Shut up, you little jerk."

He rubbed his shoulder. "Ow. And so the curse continues for my third year."

"You instigated it," I accused.

He rolled his eyes. "You need to relax. I was only kidding around."

"Fine," I grumbled. "Let's get this activity over with. Give me two facts about yourself."

Putting the fingers of his free hand to his chin dramatically, he thought for a moment. "I don't think I've mentioned to anyone else on this trip that I used to love Kool-Aid. I drank it all the time to the point where it was getting unhealthy. I know Chiron said he didn't want us to just things we liked, but it ties in with my second fact."

"That's an odd fact, but I'll take it. And your second fact…?"

"Uh-uh," he shook his head at me. "That's not how this works. Give me a fact about yourself first."

I sighed. "Alright. I love architecture. One of my huge life goals is to become an architect; to get to build something permanent."

"That seems to be eerily suitable for you," he told me. "I guess that counts as a fact. Another thing that I haven't told anyone else yet is that my mom was put in a mental institution."

I stopped dead in my tracks, thus yanking Luke back to where I was standing. "Why? Is she okay? I'm so sorry."

He shrugged. "She has never really been fully sane. This was probably for the best. At least she'll be getting helped now. That links with the Kool-Aid thing because my mom was the one who broke my obsession. When she started losing her mind, she would always be making it and offering it to me. It just became something that reminded me of her mental state."

"I'm sorry," I said again under my breath. He didn't respond and for a second I almost forgot I had to tell him something else about me. "I committed my first murder when I was seven years old." I don't know what caused me to blurt that out. Maybe I just wanted something to distract Luke from his thoughts about his mom.

It was obvious it worked by the shocked expression on his face. "What?"

I blinked hard. "I ran away when I was seven. Some guy tried to attack me and I was armed with a knife. He nearly killed me. I tried to just hit him in the shoulder to harm him so I could try and run, but he shifted and the blade drove right into his heart."

His sky blue eyes were widened in shock. "That definitely counts as a fact."

I laughed a little. "Thanks."

"For what?"

"For not making a huge deal out of what I told you."

"Don't mention it."

He grinned brightly before looking behind me. Then his grin turned into a mischievous smirk. The next thing I knew, he was tackling me to the ground behind a random bush. He was crushing me beneath him and I instantly shot into panic mode.

"What the hell are you-?"

"Shhh," Luke cut me off, pressing a finger to his lips in a 'be quiet' gesture.

That did not calm me down at all though. "Luke, you have three seconds to get off me before I kick your ass."

"Sorry," he whispered and rolled off me. His eyes seemed to shine with realization. "Are you claustrophobic?"

Even though I didn't know why he was whispering I kept my voice low as well. "Sort of. I don't mind being cramped unless people are involved. I could sit in a small locker without issue, but if you surround me too tightly with people, I tend to go on hyper-alert. And I have my own questions. First of all, why did you tackle me? And second, why are we whispering?"

He gestured for me to be quiet once again. "Just listen and you'll figure it out soon."

Silence washed over the two of us and then I heard it. About twenty meters away, shoes were scuffling through the grass. After a few more seconds, their voices rang out clearly as well. Luke pushed aside part of the bush so we could see Percy, Thalia, and Connor walking toward us. We were well enough hidden they probably wouldn't notice we were hiding here.

"Why are we spying on them?" I asked Luke.

He didn't take his eyes off of them. "It'll be interesting."

I would have much rather just wandered the woods, but I was still tied to Luke and he had at least a good twenty pounds on me. It just wasn't worth the argument.

"Is this activity over yet?" Connor whined.

Thalia's eye seemed to twitch in annoyance. "No! You've already asked twenty times! If we went back toward camp they'd just tell us to keep walking!"

"But I'm bored." It was becoming obvious by this point that Connor was just trying to annoy her. She probably knew it too, yet she couldn't help but want to snap.

"Could you stop whining?"

"But I'm bored."

"Really? Because you seem quite entertained with annoying me."

Percy had been grinning like an idiot at their bickering the whole time, but I guess he found it to be a good idea to step in before Thalia found a way to rip Connor's head off. "Both of you knock it off."

Now Connor decided to turn the tables on Percy. "Someone's grumpy. You're just upset because you didn't get paired with Annabeth."

I never knew Percy could pull off such an impressive glare. "Shut up."

"You know I'm right."

Percy didn't get to say anything because Thalia cut in. "Actually, I agree with Connor. Not about you being grumpy, just the you totally liking Annabeth part."

Luke looked at my stunned face and had to stifle his laughter. I responded by kicking him in the shin (which was kind of difficult to do since we were crouching).

"You shouldn't be talking," Percy told her. "You seem to be greatly enjoying both Nico and Luke's company."

Her eyes narrowed. "I told you I didn't like either of them that way. It's not my fault they like me."

"Didn't you kiss Nico last year?"

"It was during a game of truth or dare; I didn't think it would mean anything. Apparently it did to him."

"And didn't you make out with Luke?"

I shot Luke a look and I noticed his cheeks were bright red from their whole conversation.

"That was from our first year!" Thalia yelled at Percy. "We agreed that things were too hectic for anything more to happen between us. He doesn't feel the same anymore. I still feel like us being together wouldn't end well though."

Luke's face was scrunched up in a pained way and I can't say I blamed him; none of this was fun for him to hear. Trying to be accommodating, I put my free hand on his knee and mouthed, "Do you want to sneak away?"

Being stubborn, he put on his "brave" face and shook his head.

I was surprised to hear Connor break up their argument. "Alright, stop this. I've already heard enough Thalia's little love life." She kicked him in the balls for this comment. "I vote we get back on track with Percy's because I noticed that he never denied liking Annabeth. Am I wrong?"

Percy looked ready to lunge for him. "What's it to you?"

"Nothing whatsoever. I just think I can officially be declared the king of argument starters."

"Or the king of getting kicked in the balls," Thalia grumbled.

They finally roamed out of ear and eyeshot, so Luke and I both stood and stretched out our legs.

"I still can't believe you made out with Thalia," I told him jokingly.

A slight red tint returned to his cheeks, yet he laughed despite it. "Considering how things are between me and her, I don't believe it half of the time either."

"We should probably get back to camp," I decided. "Time is almost up."

"Yeah," he agreed. "But before we go, can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"You like Percy back, don't you?"

I bit my lip and considered that for a moment. Did I really like him? Quite possibly. Did I think we could ever have a functional relationship? Hell no.

So I settled for the simple response of muttering, "Shut up."

**I know this probably wasn't the most exciting chapter, but I didn't want to leave you guys hanging for so long again and I can assure you that it leads into a very interesting next chapter.**


	13. Chapter 13

**Thanks to all who reviewed last chapter: ****storyteller1425****, ****filmyfurry****, ****ILove2Write13****, ****Hedley is Amazing****, ****Chaoshime****, ****Firehawk97****, ****Skywriter5****, ****MewJollyRancher12****, ****boxtoplad999****, ****alexandriarulzforeva****, ****demigod-wannabe-love****, ****xXShipMateSeaweedBrainXx****, ****girlsarebetterthanboys89567****, ****C-Nuggets N.L****, ****Xover Queen****, ****SeaweedBrain113097****, ****weluvwaffles2218****, ****Julianna54321****, ****biancadiangelo0703****, ****bubble drizzles****, ****AndreaLaughs****, ****Bookninja15****, ****IconicBoyzLover437****, ****ApollosFavoriteDaughter3927****, ****HiThereSmiley****, ****HunterofArtemis32****, ****ReadrOfBooks****, ****demigod90210****, ****tweeetybirdieee****, ****BabyYou'reAllThatIWant****, ****candy0304****, ****starglow13****, ****lilslybud****, ****Sargent fuzzy bear****, ****SoccerGirl8****, ****obsessivereader95****, ****MelRose520****, ****codebrak**

**I don't own PJO.**

**Annabeth POV**

Luke and I were one of the first groups back to camp. Clarisse and Silena had made it back before us and I was quite surprised to see that Clarisse didn't even seem slightly annoyed by Silena. In fact, Silena seemed to keep nudging her in the direction of Chris since him and Beckendorf were the only other group back by that point.

We had all been allowed to cut the ropes on our wrists, and it was nice to feel free again. It's not that I had anything against Luke; I'm just pretty sure you've all caught on that I don't do so well with closeness.

No one seemed surprised that the last group to make it back to the park was Percy, Connor, and Thalia. Connor was shrieking Rebecca Black's stupid hit song "Friday" (even though it was Wednesday) in the highest, most obnoxious pitch he could reach. Even though he was particularly singing in Thalia's ear to get a reaction out of her, Percy didn't seem too thrilled either.

When Beckendorf went to go lend a hand with the scissors, Connor made sure to voice a request. "Can you cut my rope first so I can get a head start running from Thalia?"

She glowered at him. "You better hope so, because you're going to need it."

Trying to save the twerp a beating, Beckendorf did as Connor asked. He instantly bolted away from Thalia. She was about to go after him when the rope attaching her to Percy was cut, but she stopped when Percy leaned down and whispered something in her ear.

"Fine," she told him loud enough for everyone else to hear. "I'm just going to get back at him when he least expects it." This caused Connor to pale instantly.

"Alright, that's enough," Chiron decided, calling all attention to himself instead. "Now, we're going to go around and you are going to say what you learned about your partners."

Rachel and Nico were the first pair to volunteer. Nico gestured for her to tell his secrets first.

She took a deep breath. "Nico admitted to me that before his parents died he felt like they loved his sister more and he regrets that more than anything. He also told me that he used to be, as he calls it, perky and hyper to the point where it was flat-out obnoxious." It was definitely hard to picture Nico as perky and hyper.

Looking a little sad and slightly embarrassed, Nico stepped up. "One of Rachel's secrets involves the burns on her hands you all saw. They were from taking hot clay out of a kiln as she mentioned, but she did it on purpose. She felt like parents ignored her and she did it as a cry for attention, which leads into her other fact. The helicopter she got sent here for crashing was actually her dad's." No one commented since most of us understood rocky relationships with parents.

Without even checking with Clarisse, Silena volunteered their group next. Clarisse just turned away as Silena began to tell us her secrets. "As prideful as Clarisse is, she does have something she afraid of. She's afraid of her own father. And even though she isn't afraid of them, she also has some brothers that make her feel weaker than she is."

Clarisse wasn't really looking at anyone as she began to speak. "For some reason, Silena told me that she doesn't trust herself with secrets from other people. She also doesn't want to continue the reputation of her family being a long line of heartbreakers." Beckendorf raised an eyebrow at Silena, and she just smiled weakly in return.

It was silent as we waited for another group to step up. Luke glanced at me, silently asking me if I wanted to go next. I merely shrugged, and he gestured for me to start us off.

"As stupid as it may sound," I started, gathering everyone's attention, "one of Luke's secrets was that he used to have an obsession with Kool-Aid. He used to drink it all the time until his mom slowly lost her mind. She made it for him nonstop and it just became a symbol of her insanity to him. And now she's being cared for in a mental institution." Luke had looked sad as I spoke until I reminded him that his mom was being cared for.

As he stepped up to tell everyone my secrets, I took a deep breath to calm myself and held my head high.

"To get the more interesting, yet at the same time depressing, news out of the way, I'll start by saying that Annabeth admitted to me that she committed her first murder when she was only seven years old." At this comment, I got a ton of strange looks. Some people looked very confused, while others looked very afraid to be within a twenty-foot radius of me. Chiron, however, looked proud of me for telling someone this since he already knew. "On the brighter side, she also dreams of becoming an architect." Percy rolled his eyes at this, almost as if to tell me "you would". I nonchalantly flipped him off in return and no one else seemed to notice.

Anyway, I'll just skip around to more of the interesting secrets now. A funny one was that Katie and Travis found out that they used to be in the same kindergarten class a while ago. Apparently Katie once hit him in the face because he tried to eat a dandelion she had picked. Chris had a bit of a darker secret. One of the times he was high on drugs, his hallucinations were more torturous than exciting. That was when he got the scars on his arms. He had been digging his fingers into his arms so hard to try and jar himself out of the hallucinations and now the remainder was left painfully on his skin.

Beckendorf uncovered that he had enjoyed making the weapons he dealt, yet often did not want to give out certain items to customers because he didn't trust them. I must say though, the trio was probably one of the most entertaining groups. Partially because Thalia was about ready to kill Connor, but I think it was also because I wanted to know more about Percy so bad.

After about five minutes of having to keep Thalia from slaughtering Connor, we finally got the group under control and actually being somewhat serious. It might've just been me, yet it also seemed like Thalia was more irrational than usual, which is saying something.

Surprisingly, Thalia was the one who actually told Connor's secrets and she did it without venom lacing her voice. "Connor was actually willing to tell Percy and me that he felt like since dad walked out on him and his brother, he sometimes feels like he mainly pulls pranks just to prove he's good at something. Almost as if he was trying to prove to his dad that he was wrong for leaving them in the dust. He also told us that there are moments in his life where he can't think of a prank. He claims them to be very frightening times." The rest of us laughed at the second fact, and he and Thalia nodded at each other in what almost seemed to be understanding.

They all glanced at each other, trying to see who would go next until Thalia finally waved Percy forward. "Thalia's mother was a starlet. According to Thalia, she hates telling people that because her mother always pulled stupid stunts to break into the headlines and she is ashamed of her for that. Thalia also said she often tries to blame her mom for everything that has happened to her." Her jaw was clenched tight, almost painfully so from the look of it and Percy gave her a sympathetic look. There was obviously something else be said about the matter, yet no one brought it up.

"Even though Percy seems all nice," Connor began, causing Percy to face-palm, "he has been kicked out of enough schools that he lost track a while ago. I never knew the kid had it in him. He also blew up a bus once, but he never got caught for that one."

I looked at Percy with wide eyes, and he just started chuckling at me. There was no way I was letting him get away with that. I was already intent on interrogating him the second a chaperone declared this activity over with.

"I think you've all learned some interesting things about your comrades today." Chiron stated. There were a couple of nods, but no one said anything. "I have to go arrange some things before we leave here. So feel free to wander this park for a little longer."

Everyone broke off in different directions, and I made a beeline straight to Percy. I gripped his shirt sleeve and dragged him with me over to a picnic table. He was laughing the whole time. Crossing my arms fiercely and leaning against the edge of the picnic table, I waited for an explanation.

He was still grinning like an idiot. "I can't even tell you how priceless your face is right now."

"I honestly could care less," I snapped.

He sighed. "You're angry."

"I'd kind of like to know why you've gotten kicked out of so many schools and how you blew up a bus." As soon as the words left my lips, I knew I'd thrown myself into a trap.

"And I'd kind of like to know how you've killed three people. I just heard about one, yet something tells me that there's more to it. Care to explain that?"

I bit my lip. "I just don't like to talk about any of it."

"I understand that," he reassured me. "But this seems to be the only thing I have against you. Your curiosity about me seems to be the only reason you'll tell me anything."

"That's not entirely true," I told him.

His green eyes were egging me on. "Then what other reason would you have?"

"Because I feel closer to you than anyone else on this trip." The words had just stumbled out of my mouth, but they were true. "Yet I still barely know anything about you."

Without taking his eyes away from mine, he placed his hands on the picnic table on both sides of me. This definitely felt trap-like to me. I tried my best to remain calm though and not back down from his gaze.

"I'll tell you a few things though. One of them being that for now, we know enough about each other." His voice was slowly getting lower with every word he said. "The second thing being that as bad as those secrets you heard make me sound, I'm really not a bad kid. I think you already know that though. Sometimes I just tend to be a bit impulsive."

He stressed the word impulsive and leaned in closer to me at the same time. His face was now probably only three inches from mine and my body was coiled tight. It felt a little different than usual though. I felt panicky about him being so close, but not in the same way as usual. This closeness didn't feel dangerous; just…I guess you could call it exciting, daring maybe. Only a few seconds passed until we both drew closer together, almost like magnets. Just before his lips brushed over mine, he pulled back a bit.

"We may be closer to each other than anyone else in this group," he whispered. "But I'm not closing this gap until you start spilling your guts."

With one last grin, he started walking away as if he'd one this battle. If there was one thing he should know about me, it's that I despise not knowing. And I certainly did not know what was going on in his head. The fact that we almost kissed bothered me as if it wasn't right yet, but that did not by any means seize the part of me that just wishes we would've. Both of us were stubborn, yet it was only a matter time before one of us caved.


	14. Chapter 14

**Thanks to all who reviewed last chapter: ****ApollosFavoriteDaughter3927****, ****HiThereSmiley****, ****LittleHulaStatue****, ****SeaweedBrain113097****, ****AndreaLaughs****, ****DaughterofHades101****, ****XX TEARS DON'T FALLXX****, ****demigod-wannabe-love****, ****Skywriter5****, ****biancadiangelo0703****, ****TwinkleLights123****, ****Hedley is Amazing****, ****C-Nuggets N.L****, ****Julianna54321****, ****storyteller1425****, ****ancientdragonduelist****, ****lilslybud****, ****crysintia****, ****book-freak20****, ****MewJollyRancher12****, ****ReadrOfBooks****, ****luis1113****, ****tweeetybirdieee****, ****Bookninja15****, ****Chaoshime****, ****HunterofArtemis32****, ****weluvwaffles2218****, ****BabyYou'reAllThatIWant****, ****Firehawk97****, ****IconicBoyzLover437****, ****CHiKa-RoXy****, ****JasonxPiper forever****, ****filmyfurry****, ****obsessivereader95****, ****SoccerGirl8****, ****MelRose520****, ****DiamondintheDark****, ****courixoxo****, ****EPICThunder**

**I don't own PJO.**

**Annabeth POV**

I certainly wasn't going to let Percy get away with that so easily. So naturally I spent that whole night bitching with Thalia. Our bus had stopped near some woods, and we were camping in tents once again. Considering Percy was doing nothing but confusing me, I stayed away from him most of the day. And in doing so, I actually got to know some other people on the program better. I learned that Katie liked gardening and Rachel loved art as we hung out on the bus ride. I also got to talk to Nico more when we stopped to get food.

Yet the entire day, my thoughts kept looping back to Percy. He had nearly kissed me, so where the hell did that leave us? It had become pretty obvious from that little scene that we had feelings for each other, but god knows where he wanted things to go. I know we probably wouldn't have a functional relationship unless I started opening up, but blackmailing me like that sure wasn't going to get me to spill.

And so there I sat in the tent after trying to explain all of this to Thalia. She just looked at me blankly for a few moments before saying, "Well, forget what he wants. What do _you _want?"

Did she have to ask that of all questions?

"I don't know," I sighed.

She huffed in annoyance because I clearly wasn't making her job as my shrink any easier. "I think you do know. As a matter of fact, I think everyone on this damn trip knows you want to be with him."

"I do. But at the same time I don't."

Throwing her hands up in exasperation, she practically shouted, "But why?"

"It would just be too confusing. And I barely know anything about him."

"You're wrong," she deadpanned.

"What are you talking-?"

"What's his favorite color?"

"Blue. What does that have to do with-?"

"What's his brother's name?"

"Tyson, but-"

"When's his birthday?"

"August 18th. Why are you asking-?"

"Does he have ADHD?"

"Yeah, and dyslexia too. I don't understand what that has to do with anything though."

She sighed, "How can you not understand it? I just gave you the most random questionnaire about him, and you were able to answer everything right. That means you at least know _something _about him."

"But those are just a bunch of random fun facts about him," I argued.

"So?" she pointed out. "These days, people will hook up with someone without even knowing their name. You know more than you think about Percy. It just bothers you that you don't know about his past." To be completely honest, I already knew what she was telling me. I just hoped that maybe no one else would notice so that wouldn't be an obvious factor in my decision. Apparently I made it pretty obvious though.

"Fine, I guess you have a point. But why do you seem like you want us together so bad anyway?"

She shrugged. "It's not so much that. I just don't want you to have only stupid reasons keeping you from going out with him."

"Like your reasons for not going out with Luke or Nico?" I probably shouldn't have said that.

Her eyes zeroed in on me and for once I realized why people could see her as such a threat sometimes. "That's completely different. I don't like either of them."

"You aren't getting away with an answer like that. You messed with my head, now I'm messing with yours." I told her and her face darkened. Something told me I was really walking into bad territory with her, but someone needed to say something about this to her. "I think you say you don't like either of them, yet in reality you actually like both of them and you're torn."

"So what if I am?"

"You tell me."

She clenched her jaw and turned her head away. "Annabeth, I really don't want to get angry with you. So you might just want to drop this."

"Not until you tell me what's up." I said stubbornly. "Aren't normal girls supposed to gossip like this and spill our hearts out to each other?"

I was glad to hear her chuckle at this. "Yeah. But if you haven't noticed, we don't exactly fall under the category of 'normal'."

"We can still gossip though. If anything, the fact that we aren't normal gives us a lot more to talk about. So why won't you go out with either of them?"

With a roll of her eyes, she grumbled, "I can't believe I'm actually having this conversation. I'd rather just stick with the whole 'I don't like either of them' façade. Because I feel like I just seem whiny and spoiled when I say I have two great guys who like me and I can't choose as if it's some sort of crisis. I like Nico because we're just such close friends and he always seems to be the one comforting me. But with Luke, there's just _so much _history."

"You always say things with him are complicated or that you guys have some huge history. Is it really that bad?"

"Let's just say that this-" she tugged the collar of her shirt and her bra strap aside so I could see the scar on her shoulder where it looked like something had actually been stabbed through her, "-was his doing."

My jaw probably dropped in shock. I thought about the Luke I had been paired up with today. Sure, some of his jokes were a little daring, but he seemed harmless. He just seemed a little sneaky sometimes. Not in a cruel way though. Then I thought about what I'd heard him say to Thalia when it was storming the other night: "_I'm still so sorry"._

"There's no way," I shook my head in disbelief.

"That's what I thought once," she stated in a flat tone before curling up in her sleeping bag. "I'm going to bed. Night."'

"Night," I replied, slipping into my own sleeping bag even though I was still surprised. My nightmares didn't help my state much either.

_I was in a blind rage. My body was on autopilot as I tore into the locker room where I knew my arch enemies would be getting changed for their cheerleading practice. It turns out Tammi and Kelli were already changed and were just having a blast checking themselves out in one of the tall mirrors around the room. They must have been crushed by the fact that no one else was there to watch them be super perfect and fake._

"_What the hell are you up to?" I growled as I stormed up to them._

"_What on earth could you possibly mean?" Tammi asked in mock-innocence, even though the evil smirks on their faces proved as total evidence._

_My eyes narrowed furiously. "Could you drop the dumbass act for one damn minute? You both know what I'm talking about."_

_Kelli gave out a little laugh. "Annabeth, there must be a misunderstanding."_

"_What's there to misunderstand?" I spat. "You and your stupid boyfriends ganged up on my brothers. Did you think I wouldn't notice when they came home scared and bruised? It would've been bad enough if you just talked to them. But it's obvious more happened if they came home bruised. What the f*** did you do to them?"_

"_We were just looking for a little cash, that's all," Kelli explained. "We heard you had two brothers who went to the elementary school, so we decided to check them out. We needed some cash and we figured we could just steal their lunch money or something. Your mother," she was putting the word 'mother' in on purpose. She knew I only had a step mom, "must have made them lunch because they didn't have even a penny on them. They had to pay up in some way, so our boys may have roughened them up a bit. Boys will be boys, I guess."_

_Far beyond pissed off now, I slammed them up against the nearest wall, pinning them with my forearms pressed against their throats. "You better listen well. Pick on me all you want. By this point, I couldn't care less. But do not go anywhere near my brothers ever again."_

_Tammi just chuckled a little, which sounded strangled as I rammed my arm harder against her neck. "You do realize we could get you expelled from this school too. Considering right now you're not only attacking us, but also threatening us."_

"_You won't though," I said knowingly. "You guys would rather keep me around to try and tear my life down as much as possible."_

_Releasing my hold on them, I turned and headed for the door. Just before I could leave, Kelli called out, "Annabeth?"_

"_What?" I snapped._

"_I just thought you should know; I really did enjoy meeting your brothers," the wicked gleam in her eye only unsettled me more._

My eyes flickered open. I was panting heavily from the anger built up in my dream. Now that I was awake though, I was torn between wanting to cry and wanting to be furious. Neither happened though. I just sort of sat there, staring at the tent flaps for what felt like hours. After a while, I heard Thalia shift and the next thing I knew, she was sitting right next to me, watching the tent flaps as well.

"Thinking?" she asked.

"Yeah," I answered. "All thanks to another bad dream. I'm sorry if I was being a bit pushy last night."

She waved the comment off. "It's no big deal. Only the first year campers didn't know that Luke did that. I was probably going to tell you eventually. Normally, I wouldn't have cared about telling you. I've just been a bit off lately."

"I've noticed."

She nodded. "I didn't realize I was being obvious about it."

"You weren't. I wasn't even entirely sure until you just told me."

"Oh."

"Is it because of the mail you got the other day?"

Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "How did you guess?"

"Percy told me your letter was bad. I was just assuming that was why since I didn't know of anything else that could've set you off. If you don't want to tell me though, it's okay." As you all probably guessed, I actually did want to know, I just didn't want to be obnoxious. I already pried enough from her in the past twenty-four hours.

"I don't mind. It was a letter from one of my old neighbors. She was writing to tell me that my mom died in a car crash."

I turned to look at her. "I'm sorry."

I was surprised to see her as fairly unbothered. When I heard about my brothers, I was a wreck. How was she so calm?

"I know it sounds heartless," she said, "but she's been dead to me for years. She was always drinking and she never paid me any attention any way. I was talking to Nico about it the other night because I felt terrible. I felt like a sick person because it didn't even seem to bother me that much that my own mother had died."

Trying to be sympathetic, I just threw out there, "I know the feeling. My step mom is a bitch. I'd probably feel the same way if she died. I guess it's a little different since we aren't blood-related."

With a grin, she just clapped me on the back. "It's different, but the attempt was nice." The two of us laughed and she checked her watch. "Everyone's going to start waking up soon. I think we should pack everything up now so we can get the seats all the way in the back on the bus."

**}{}{}{}{}{}{**

Due to the rest of the day's events, I must admit that my dream had pretty much been entirely forgotten. Things started getting really interesting from the minute we got on the bus. And yes, Thalia and I did get the two farthest back seats. At some point a sing-a-long had been started up, much to our chaperones' dismay. I can assure you, you never want to hear all thirteen of us belting out Somebody Told Me by The Killers. You would most likely want to go deaf.

When we finally reached our next stop all of us looked around in confusion. The three nearest places were a Laundromat, a Best Buy, and a bank. None of us had money to buy anything from Best Buy (nor would we have anywhere to really put stuff). And there was no way they would willingly send juvenile delinquents into a bank. So we could only assume they were sending us to the Laundromat.

"It has come to my attention that many of you didn't pack enough clothes for this trip and could really use an opportunity to wash some of your clothes." Chiron said and a lot of us nodded in agreement. "Since we see this as a bit of a necessity we will lend you all money for a wash and dry cycle. Once you get some, feel free to take your clothes and go wash them."

No one argued. We all grabbed our money and headed in. But once all of us had put our stuff in machines, we had some down time. The washers were built into the walls, but the dryers were all stationed on the ground. So of course, the Stoll brothers decided to start dancing on top of the dryers.

"_My milkshake brings all the boys to the yard. And they're like, It's better than yours_," Travis began singing.

And, to no one's surprise, Connor joined in. "_Damn right, it's better than yours. I can teach you, But I have to charge_."

"Stop singing this instant, you infernal children!" Mr. D barked.

They did stop singing, but by no means did they stop dancing. Speakers in the place actually had other music playing, so the two of them were going around to everyone in the program, and other random strangers, to see if they would dance with them. The only person they got to join in was Luke, who ended up coming to me to try and get me to dance with him.

He bowed and offered out his hand, "May I have this dance, my lady?"

I rolled my eyes at his mock attempt at being proper. "I'm good."

"Come on," he taunted. "Who's here that you would be embarrassed in front of? Percy?"

I scowled at that. I'm not really one to care if people think I'm weird. Or at least I'm used to it. So I really didn't care if Percy would've judged me for dancing with Luke. The only problem was, once again, that he almost kissed me. If that meant to him that we were together in any sort of way, wouldn't it be wrong for me to be dancing with Luke? Thinking about him almost kissing me was actually my deciding factor to dance with Luke. It wouldn't mean anything to me or Luke and it would show Percy that he can't keep sending me mixed signals.

Grabbing his hand, I responded, "Actually, I'd love to dance."

After a few minutes of us just dancing like complete psychos together, he asked, "Are you okay? You keep looking at me weird."

Without even realizing it, I was trying to picture him as the creep who would've stabbed Thalia. With him laughing and dancing though, I just couldn't see it. I by no means thought Thalia was lying, but it just made me wonder what the old him used to be like.

"Thalia told me what you did to her," I said simply.

His eyes widened for a moment, as if trying to figure out if he did something wrong recently. His eyes then darkened though and it was evident he knew what I meant. "Oh. And so now you're wary of me."

I shook my head. "Actually, I'm trying to picture you doing that. And I just can't."

He grinned. "You're probably one of the few people on the trip who think that. A lot of people heard about how I was my first year. I was kind of an asshole."

"Oh."

Neither of us talked the rest of the time. We finally stopped at one point when we all had to switch our clothes over to a dryer. During this whole transition, I happen to catch Percy's eye. He was giving me an annoyed look as if to ask what the hell my whole scene with Luke was about. I put on my best innocent face and pretended I had no idea why seemed annoyed. Luke apparently caught this sort-of conversation between us.

"Are you trying to piss Percy off?" he asked me.

I shrugged. "I consider it getting even." I also did not plan on being the one to cave first.

"I think I can help with that. Just don't freak out," he told me.

Before I could even ask what he meant, he leaned down and wrapped his arms around my waist in a hug. I was surprised I didn't actually feel trapped. He kept his grip loose and he just felt so relaxed himself that it almost gave me no reason to feel tensed. So I brought my arms around him in return. To be completely honest, I nearly started crying. It had been my first hug since I had hugged Bobby and Matthew the night I found out kids were starting to bully them. And that was close to a year ago. I was glad it was from Luke. It didn't have to mean anything with him since he liked Thalia. With Percy it would've meant _something_, even if I didn't know what.

"Thank you," he whispered in my ear.

"For what?"

With a laugh, he pulled out of the hug. "For not punching me or judging me when you found out about what I did to Thalia. When most people find out, they try and beat me up."

"No problem."

We parted ways and I wasn't surprised to find Percy glowering at Luke. I almost felt bad about it. He once told me it was game on though. Now I guess I'm just stepping up the game.


	15. Chapter 15

**Thanks to all who reviewed last chapter: ****StrawberriesR-awesome****, ****Chaoshime****, ****ASenseofImagination****, ****demigod-wannabe-love****, ****C-Nuggets N.L****, ****HunterofArtemis32****, ****IconicBoyzLover437****, ****ReadrOfBooks****, ****biancadiangelo0703****, ****Firehawk97****, ****boxtoplad999****, ****SeaweedBrain113097****, ****HiThereSmiley****, ****demigodlove****, ****xXShipMateSeaweedBrainXx****, ****cindella204****, ****lilslybud****, ****LivingInACupcake****, ****book-freak20****, ****Hedley is Amazing****, ****filmyfurry****, ****Bookninja15****, ****SoccerGirl8****, ****kldsn123****, ****ApollosFavoriteDaughter3927****, ****Green-ac-percabeth****, ****tweeetybirdieee****, ****Julianna54321****, ****Alexandra Nightshade****, ****redwolf12****, ****pjoperson****, ****obsessivereader95****, ****4ever2010****, ****mechanical-cat-is-rusty****, ****Guyluver14****, ****ancientdragonduelist****, ****Lives2fly****, ****klydo****, ****alexandriarulzforeva****, ****codebrak**

**I don't own PJO.**

**Annabeth POV**

Luke and I began spending a lot of time together on the trip. It was nice to be around someone that wasn't so tense. It was quite obvious though that Percy was not okay with this. Even though he was friends with Luke, he started spending most of his time glaring at him. By this point, I wasn't even really hanging out with Luke to piss Percy off. I really did enjoy hanging out with him. He was so willing to talk about his past which made him very interesting to listen to.

"There is no way you used to be in a gang," I told him, showing that I didn't believe what he was telling me one bit.

Luke just cracked a grin. "Believe what you want, but I'm not kidding."

"Is that how you got sent here your first year?" I asked. The whole program was sitting around another campfire we had made, roasting marshmallows and talking to one another.

"Kind of," he explained. "It wasn't so much that I was in a gang since most of the cops already knew that. One night I was with some of the other guys and we jumped someone. That person nearly died and the cops caught us for it. The rest of the guys who were with me decided they would rather go to juvie and some of them were over eighteen so they got put in jail. I chose this program though." I was staring at him in shock, and my eyes probably bugged out of my head in realization when he glanced at Thalia who was talking to Nico on the other side of the fire.

"Wait a minute," I said, putting things together in my head. "Thalia told me you stabbed her and now you're saying you jumped someone with your gang. Was she the one you jumped?"

His face was in a tight grimace and before I could apologize for being nosy, he started talking. "Yeah. She was in the gang too for the longest time. From what she told me, the gang started getting to close to people she cared about and she thought it was putting them in danger. So she wanted out. Traditionally though, people don't get out of gangs that easily. That night, a bunch the guys decided to go jump her out."

"And you went along with this?" I whisper-shouted so I wouldn't draw attention to us.

"Can I finish?" he snapped, and I gestured for him to continue. "They cornered her and she started taking all of them on. There was about eight of them armed with knives against her, but she put up an amazing fight. I stood off to the side, not knowing what to do. The two of us had been best friends. From a distance, people probably would've thought we were a couple most of the time. I didn't want to hurt her. I felt angry that she was leaving the gang though, like she was abandoning me. So all it took was some encouragement from the rest of the guys in the gang. She barely even had a scratch on her when I stepped into the fight. She let her guard down against me because she thought I was coming in to help her. Next thing I knew though, I was driving my blade into her shoulder."

"At least you sound like you truly regret it," I assured him, placing my hand gently on his arm.

"It still is my greatest regret," he agreed. "After I stabbed her, she went down. The guys saw this as their opportunity to get her. In seconds, they were all digging their own knives into her skin. They practically tortured her while I was frozen for what felt like hours. Even after she blacked out, they still cut into her. When we heard the police sirens, they all scattered. I was the only one who didn't move. But what makes me feel worst of all is that I quit the gang after being in this program. I had still been in it my first year. And I somehow managed to get away from it with only this," he pointed to the scar on his face.

"At least she seems like she has forgiven you," I said, trying to be optimistic.

He laughed dryly. "That is probably the only plus side to the whole scenario."

We sat in a fairly uncomfortable silence until of course the Stolls decided to ruin my night. I thought I would get some peace without them for once since it seemed like they had been having a great time bugging and teasing Chris and Clarisse who had gotten together the night before.

Connor plopped down next to me and started talking in a voice that sounded like one of those annoying news reporters. "Annabeth Chase, would you care to tell us how you feel about the fact that Clarisse and Chris have gotten over themselves and began dating before you and Percy?"

"Excuse me?" I growled. Luke looked like he wanted to laugh. He's so helpful.

"We were originally betting that you would get together with Percy before they got together, but you have even managed to hold off longer than them," Travis elaborated. "And due to Clarisse's personality we thought we never would've seen that day come. So how does it feel to be even slower when it comes things like this?"

My eyes narrowed at him. "I could say the same about you and Katie, so shut your trap."

Connor began laughing like this and told Travis, "You just got owned!"

"I wouldn't talk either Connor," I shot at him. "Keep pushing me and we'll see how much longer you last."

"Fine," he gave in, much to my surprise. "But before I go, how does that make you feel?" He pointed across the fire and when I looked that way, I could feel my stomach coiling into knots.

Rachel was sitting on the ground next to Percy. The two of them were sharing a stick to roast marshmallows on and were smiling and laughing. I know it was just my jealous side really getting to me, but I couldn't help feeling anger boil up in me. What ticked me off even more though was that if this whole competitive thing between us hadn't started up, it would've been _me _there with Percy. Just the thought of him with another girl made me feel outraged and like I was going to be sick at the same time. And we aren't even together.

Luke had shooed off the Stolls and was looking at me with a concerned face. "Don't let it get to you. It's obvious he still likes you."

I raked hand through my hair. "Is this what it feels like for you when you see Thalia with Nico? If so, I think I'd explode if I was you."

His gaze fixed on the mentioned pair once again. "It does feel awful, but you learn to deal. There's a distinct difference between our cases though."

"What's that?"

He sighed. "I screwed things up big time with Thalia when I betrayed her. You haven't done anything that bad to Percy yet. Your chances are still way better. Don't let anything get in your way."

Neither of us said anything throughout the rest of the campfire.

**}{}{}{}{}{}{**

I'll be the first to admit that I'm definitely the jealous type. And so I can't say I was surprised that I snapped later that night over Percy and Rachel. We were staying in another cabin, but this one wasn't exactly as upscale as the last one. There weren't bunks so we all had to set up sleeping bags on the hard wood floor. I originally tried to set up my stuff as far away from the two of them as possible, yet ended up moving when I saw a spider web. Yes, I'm afraid of spiders. Go ahead and get your laughter out now.

Anyway, since floor space was taken up really quickly I ended up only maybe eight feet away from them. They were helping each other set up sleeping bags while chatting away happily. Just the sight made me want to scream. I was going to just try and let things go until Percy caught my eye. He attempted a grin at me, but it was so fake. It looked completely forced. And so I snapped.

I went over and got his attention by placing my hand on his shoulder. "Percy? Can I talk to you for a minute?"

He got up and we went over into a corner to talk. "What's up?"

I glared at him. "Don't play stupid with me."

"Are you getting mad over the fact that I'm talking to Rachel?" he asked. "Because I really don't think that it's cool of you to get all mad at her when she didn't do anything to you."

"It isn't her," I hissed, slowly losing control of my temper. "It's that I can tell you're trying to get under my skin by hanging out with her."

"And weren't you doing the same with Luke?" he challenged.

"I'll admit that I was maybe hoping to get some sort of reaction out you by hanging out with him at first," I agreed. "But what even drove me to do that in the first place is the fact that you kept giving me mixed signals!"

Now I could tell he was getting angry too. "What makes you think that getting me jealous would do anything? And I do actually think Rachel's cool too. Why is that such a problem?"

"Like I said, I don't have a problem with her. But what you are doing with her is still different from me being around Luke."

"How so?"

I could now see Luke and Rachel talking to each other, eyeing Percy and me warily.

Our voices were getting gradually louder, yet I still tried to keep mine subtle. "You've known Luke longer. He's been one of the ones teasing us to get together, so why would he try and stop that? I barely know anything about Rachel. So for all I could assume, she could actually have feelings for you. Luke and I wouldn't go further than friends though because he likes Thalia!"

"That doesn't stop me from feeling jealous though!" he protested. "It's not like I can help it!"

"I'm just trying to point out that this wouldn't have happened if you didn't try and blackmail me into spilling my story. What on earth made you think doing that would make me tell you anything?"

All of sudden Percy and I were being pushed through a doorway that I hadn't even noticed we were standing right next to by Luke and Rachel. We both yelled in protest, but it was to no avail as the door clicked shut and locked behind us. Seriously, who makes doors that lock from the outside? Looking around I realized we were in a small, run-down kitchen. There were only some cabinets below a short strip of counters, a stove that most likely didn't work, and small table coupled with two chairs that seemed to be falling apart.

"Fantastic," Percy said sarcastically. "Now we're going to be stuck here all night while we're both pissed at each other." Before I could say anything to that, he added, "All I'm trying to do is help you when I do stuff like that. Clearly it got me nowhere. And we both know that you were going to at some point attempt to make me spill."

I don't even know why, but that just seemed to set me off more than anything else. Probably because it not only angered me, it also upset me. "But that's different! I know I shouldn't push you into talking about something you don't want to, but other people have heard your story. You've told the entire program the past two years. I just feel like for some reason you're keeping me in the dark and that's what probably annoys me most. It's different that I haven't told my story because you're not the only one who doesn't seem to know it. I'm the only person who knows my whole story. Even the judges I had to speak to in court don't know everything because there were some things that I couldn't force myself to bring up."

Toward the end of my little speech, I could tell my voice was getting hysterical as if I was about to cry. Not wanting to have another episode in front of Percy, I turned away from his intense gaze and gripped the edge of the counter hard as if it was my anchor to reality. Even though I needed comfort, I'm glad Percy backed off instead. Because I have no idea how I would've even responded to anything by that point.

Sensing my mood, he simply decided. "I'll sleep in one of these chairs. If you want, you can take the other chair. Or you can take the counter."

It was weird how we were arguing just seconds ago, but now that didn't even seem to have happened. We didn't really resolve anything, yet I can personally say I wouldn't be feeling the same way about seeing him near Rachel. Just putting what happened out there almost seemed to be enough. At least for the night. I pushed myself up on the counter, lying down so I was still facing the wall rather than Percy.

Just before I fell asleep I could've sworn I heard Percy mumble an, "I'm sorry."

Even though I was only half-awake by that point I made some sort of apology in return. All I could think was that I had missed Percy and me getting along. So I should've known that thanks to my terrible sleep patterns, I was going to be crawling back to him in only a few hours.

**Yeah so some of you might not have liked that Percy and Annabeth argued, but I know I felt like they had some arguing that needed to be done. And I think you'll all enjoy the next chapter. Which I want to **_**try **_**(no promises) to post before next weekend.**


	16. Chapter 16

**Thanks to all who reviewed last chapter: **Skywriter5, biancadiangelo0703, storyteller1425, demigod-wannabe-love, klydo, mavk4444, boxtoplad999, SeaweedBrain113097, GrEySoN-cHaNcE's-GiRlFrIeNd, Chaoshime, Sargent fuzzy bear, Hedley is Amazing, crysintia, C-Nuggets N.L, LivingInACupcake, Annabeth-Kahlan-Alanna-Cara, Firehawk97, kldsn123, P.S. daughters of Aphrodite, demigodlove, DammitimmaD, CHiKa-RoXy, dreamerstarlight, JordanMathias, SoccerGirl8, ancientdragonduelist, ixdookiie, Bookninja15, candy0304, filmyfurry, Isn'tSheLovely3927, Julianna54321, Alexandra Nightshade, xXWeirdChikkiXx, BabyYou'reAllThatIWant, weluvwaffles2218, Regina de Morte

**I don't own PJO.**

**I had been hoping to post this chapter earlier in the week, but two days earlier than usual is still pretty good. Also, someone asked if they were demigods or mortals, and I decided I'm just leaving them mortal. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the following chapter.**

**Annabeth POV**

_My sneakers sloshed through the deep puddles splattered all over the sidewalks and the note crumpled in my numb hand was practically dissolving from the heavy rainfall. I was freezing my ass off, but that barely mattered to me. There was no way in hell I was stopping until I could find the only two girls who could probably answer my questions. Having no idea of their intentions for me though, I strapped my old knife to my arm just in case. It felt like lead to me with the guilt it carried, yet I found it a necessity for this situation anyway._

_The two of them were under an awning outside of some building that looked as if it had closed hours ago. Most of the other places had closed, especially considering the down-pours. There was no sign of thunder or lightning, but the rain was enough to make anyone want to just be inside their own home. My home was the last place I wanted to be at that moment though. I couldn't go back there without the slightest idea of where my two brothers were and I was the only one who knew just where to get answers._

"_So, what did I do to you two this time? Break one of your nails?" I taunted Tammi and Kelli from a few yards away. "Because I really want to know what could've possessed you to take my brothers to god-knows-where when I'm pretty sure I didn't do shit to you."_

"_You say this as if you're surprised we would do something like this," Tammi pointed out._

"_I'm not," I stated, letting my anger become evident in my tone. "I know you guys would have a motive though, even if it was ridiculously stupid."_

"_Do you remember a few weeks back when you went all noble and confronted us in the locker room?" Kelli asked._

"_Yeah." I snapped. "Just get to the point."_

_She shot me a wicked grin before continuing. "Well, that little scene made us late for practice and our coach doesn't stand for tardiness. So we were stripped of our positions as head cheerleaders."_

_I couldn't believe she was actually being serious. They hadn't even been fully kicked off the team and they decide that that makes it okay to go after my brothers again. This actually made me question if they were fully sane or if they were even human. I didn't believe either was likely. _

"_That is truly a tragedy," I told her sarcastically. "I think I'll continue this little conversation by asking: what did you do to my brothers?"_

_Tammi laughed which sounded like a sharp cruel noise that somehow piercing my eardrums even over the loud roar of the rainfall. "We had our boyfriends take them…and I guess you could say hide them away somewhere. Feel free to start looking for them anytime."_

_My blood ran cold. These two didn't even know where they were? Only their boyfriends who probably couldn't remember their names, much less remember where they would've hidden my brothers? I could only picture Bobby and Matthew looking scared and upset in a place they didn't recognize by any means. And a harsh nagging in the back of my head kept telling me it was my fault._

"_So then how does this play out?" I inquired. "We both just roam our separate ways? Because I doubt that's all there is to this scenario."_

"_That is very true," Kelli agreed. "You see, you unfortunately know too much. No one else around here would think to blame us. So I intend on finishing you off with the bitter idea in your head that you have no clue what your actions led your brothers to."_

_This sounded like a sick mind game. I'm usually good with mind games, and I could understand this one. But no matter what way I looked at it, it was inhumane. So I wasn't surprised one bit when Tammi pulled a gun seemingly out of nowhere and aimed it at me. Instinctively, I backed up. I was brought to an abrupt halt though when my spine slammed against the brick wall of a towering building behind me._

"_Is the Annabeth Chase actually scared?" Tammi mocked, before lunging at me. She slammed against and the back of my neck drove against the bricks, tearing open the skin there._

_Thankfully, she was dumb enough to put the gun to my head. I doubted she was very skilled with it, so she should've just kept her distance. Now she was close enough for me to disarm her. And I did just that. She had made no attempt to pin my arms, so I smacked the gun with my hand in one quick motion. Before she could even look shocked, the gun was flying into the middle of the road a good forty feet away. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Kelli advancing so I acted as quick as I could. I grabbed Tammi's head and rammed it into the brick wall. It didn't knock her out, but she would certainly be out of commission for a few minutes._

_I barely had time to draw my own knife before Kelli lunged for me with one of her one. I managed to parry her strike so her blade didn't sink right into my heart. She slashed at me once again, but I sidestepped and shot a roundhouse kick to her shoulder. Neither of us got the chance to attack again as Tammi, who had snapped out of her daze rather quickly, tackled me from behind. It was a weak attempt so I flipped her off of me, yet it was the only distraction Kelli needed. She lashed out with her blade, actually tearing through the waistband of my jeans and leaving a nasty cut along my hipbone._

_The two of them were up and ready to fight me and I was already bleeding from two spots. I had to end this fight quick. I didn't have time for this; I had to go find my brothers. They didn't intend on allowing this though. They each lunged for one of my arms to most likely try and pin them. As I was bringing my fist that was gripping my knife across my body to punch Kelli, Tammi came a little too close. My knife ripped across her chest, gashing it open. I didn't doubt that it might've been deep enough to hit her heart._

_I stood in shock at the idea of taking another life. Fear of what could happen from this crept up on me. In my panicked state, Kelli wasted no time to attack me again. The next thing I knew I was pinned against that wall again, staring blankly at Tammi's crumpled form. I didn't even take much notice of Kelli until I could feel the searing pain of her knife running right up my ribcage. My eyes locked onto her with a glare and she simply smirked._

_She hovered the tip of her blade just above my chest. "Any last words?"_

_I had to think fast. With a start, I realized she hadn't disarmed me. She probably thought that I wouldn't try anything while so close to death. I had nothing to lose though. I turned my knife in my hand and rammed it into her back just before she could attack me. I was expecting that to only make her go down though. People often survived from stab wounds that weren't to the head or heart. She dropped like a pile of bricks though so I dove to the ground to check her pulse. It was terribly faint as if she was only seconds from dying. I looked at the two dead bodies and all I could do was stand in the pouring rain though, wondering how on earth I had become such a monster._

I can't find a very accurate word for how I felt when I woke up on the counter of that dilapidated kitchen. There were just too many different emotions: angry, upset, sad, disgusted, depressed. Not to mention my three favorites: like I wanted to punch something, like I wanted to scream, and like I just wanted to run from this stupid program. Punching something wouldn't have been very productive and I would have probably only hurt my hand in doing so. If I screamed, I'd wake Percy up. And I was locked in that damn room so I couldn't escape from everyone.

So I ended up sitting on the ground with my back against the cabinets, my arms resting on my knees, and my head hung low. To anyone who would've seen me, I probably looked like I was going to black out. I had far too much going through my head to even think of sleeping though.

"Are you okay?" I looked up to see Percy staring at me, his eyes filled with concern. I wondered how long he had been awake for.

Not finding my voice to create a sentence, I just shook my head. He took this as a sign I needed comfort so he came and sat beside me. I was surprised to say the least when he didn't say anything, and instead just gently pulled my head to rest on his shoulder before he relaxed his own head on top of mine. The two of us sat there for a while, looking out at the tiny moonlit window to watch fireflies light up the night even more as they passed by.

I could've sworn I heard Percy sigh in relief when I broke the silence. "You've gotten better with your people skills."

He laughed. "Most people like talking. So I like to think of it as I've gotten better with my handling-Annabeth skills."

I couldn't help but grin at that. "Either way, thank you."

"No problem," he told me. "You aren't ready to pass out again, are you? Because you look like it."

Rubbing at my tired eyes, I replied, "I think my extreme lack of sleep is getting to me. I can't remember ever getting a goodnight's sleep. I feel like you need to have peace of mind for that, and that is a state I am very unfamiliar with."

"You can't even remember sleeping well before you were seven?" I was grateful that he phrased it as when I was seven instead of bringing up my first murder considering I just relived my last two.

I shook my head. "For as long as I can remember, there's always something troubling me. The whole reason I was even in the situation to kill the creep when I was seven was because I ran away from home. Even when I was little, I had to deal with living in a house with two parents who wouldn't have noticed or cared if I died."

It was obvious that he was trying to hide a triumphant smirk for figuring something out about me, but I didn't care. I felt _way _too tired to put up a fight.

Apparently, he wanted to return the favor. "I know how it feels to be left in the dust. Out of all of the schools I went to, I made one friend unless you count me hanging out with brother. No one liked me; in fact most of them hated me, including the faculty. So I was the target. The one they blamed everything on."

I usually have a way with words, but I was so surprised he was sharing stuff with me that I only managed a, "That sucks."

"Before I forget," he said. "I really am sorry about our stupid fight."

"Me too," I agreed. "I think a lot of what we snapped at each other about though needed to be said."

"Can you just please not start a fight with Rachel?" he begged. "Because yesterday, you really seemed ready to massacre her."

"Even though I've already said this, I wasn't ready to massacre her," I protested. "I was ready to massacre the idea of you being with her."

He rolled his eyes. "Can you just not start anything with her?"

"Only if you agree to the same thing about Luke," I bargained.

"Deal."

My whole body tightened when he wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me closer to him. I didn't try and escape though. He was one of the few people I had left to put trust in, so what did I have to lose? And even though I wouldn't have admitted it a day earlier, I trusted him more than Luke even though I let Luke hug me.

"Out of curiosity, where does this leave us?" I asked. His following silence panicked me a little, so I started babbling. "I don't care if you say we hate each other now, as long as I can get a straight answer."

He bit his lip. "How about for now we aren't exactly dating, but we're off limits to others? Because I know it'll ease my mind a bit knowing that neither of us is intending on going after someone else or letting someone else advance on us."

I probably had a grin similar to that of the ever-so-creepy Cheshire cat. "I can live with that."

Somehow it doesn't surprise me that our perfect little moment was interrupted by some crashing and what sounded like arguing coming from the main room of the cabin.


	17. Chapter 17

**Thanks to all who reviewed last chapter: **HiThereSmiley, alexandriarulzforeva, DiamondintheDark, storyteller1425, Skywriter5, Alexandra Nightshade, Regina de Morte, Kathrin-D-of-Zeus, mavk4444, SeaweedBrain113097, biancadiangelo0703, undecided1996, ixdookiie, starglow13, DammitimmaD, crysintia, Nick Brimmstoone, ffsah1, Hedley is Amazing, book-freak20, titan616, HunterofArtemis32, CHiKa-RoXy, StrawberriesR-awesome, XX TEARS DON'T FALLXX, bookwormgirl2497, Bookninja15, AndreaLaughs, klydo, PJATO-FAN-4-LIFE, filmyfurry, Insanity is my second name, Julianna54321, ShadesOfGrey97, xXWeirdChikkiXx, CammiHam48, somebody615, luis1113, obsessivereader95, Perseus12, SoccerGirl8, C-Nuggets N.L, percy93, Natrick

**I won't even bother trying to give reasons/excuses for such a late update, but I do apologize for the lengthy wait.**

**I don't own PJO.**

**Annabeth POV**

Percy and I could still hear commotion going on in the other room as we attempted to get the door to budge. We were both surprised that with how old it looked that it hadn't broken as we shook it multiple times.

"Any other ideas?" Percy asked.

I thought for a moment before glancing at the window. It also seemed locked, but at least that lock was inside the room. Hoping I could pick the lock, I searched the floor for anything thin and sturdy enough. Even though it was rusty, I figured a paper clip I had found covered in dust might work. It felt like forever, despite the fact that it probably only took me about a minute, until it unlocked.

"You're awesome," Percy complimented me as he pulled the window open.

With a wry grin, I replied, "I know."

We both climbed through the window and bolted for the front doors. Barreling through them, we found everyone still in the main room of the cabin. They all seemed to be shouting stuff at each other so loud I couldn't make sense of any of it. I started to see more of the center of the arguing when I noticed that Luke and Nico were holding Thalia back and Clarisse was being restrained by Chris.

"Hey!" I shouted, trying to get their attention. That got me nowhere, so I screamed a lot louder, "HEY!"

That got their attention. They all whirled around to look in shock at Percy and me standing there.

Before I could speak again, Percy voiced the exact question I had been thinking, "What the hell is going on here?"

Running a hand through her hair, Katie stepped forward to start explaining. "I don't know how exactly they started fighting, but one second Clarisse and Thalia were shouting at each other and then the next thing you know they were pounding each other." Only then did I notice the dark bruise forming on Clarisse's jaw and that Thalia had a split bottom lip that was swelling.

Rachel continued for her, "Before they attacked each other, Chris was trying to defend Clarisse and Luke and Nico were trying to defend Thalia. Then when the two of them actually lunged for one another the rest of us were all trying to break it up."

"What was that crash though?" I questioned out of curiosity.

Thalia, who Luke and Nico had released, rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly. "We kind of slammed into that pile of firewood when we were fighting." I looked over to where the once neat pile had been. Now most of the sticks looked snapped into even smaller pieces, but that didn't matter much. It was there to be burned anyway.

"So now would you two like to share what you were fighting about in the first place?" Nico asked the two girls.

"It's none of your business," Thalia snapped.

Luke shot her an annoyed look. "We try to defend you and all we get as a thank you is you pretty much telling us to back off."

"I didn't ask for your help," she growled.

Clarisse looked at Chris like she wanted to tell him the same thing. He didn't bother to argue with her though. He simply nodded in understanding and wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

However, Luke was far too stubborn to leave it at that. "Whether you asked for it or not, you could be a little more-"

"Enough," I cut them off, massaging my temples. I really didn't feel like hearing more bickering and I could tell that a lot of other people in the room agreed with me. "And where are Silena and Beckendorf in this whole mess?"

A bunch of them snickered at this and Chris was the one to answer, "Who knows. They went outside hours ago. I'm sure they're enjoying their alone time though."

Realization hit me about another pair we hadn't heard much from. "Wait a minute. You all are telling us that something went completely wrong and the Stolls had absolutely nothing to do with it."

Everyone now glanced at the duo that had been sitting in a back corner, watching this whole scene in amusement.

"Actually," Clarisse said slowly, her eyebrows furrowing together. "They antagonized the whole thing."

"Yeah," Thalia recalled as her eyes narrowed at the now-panicky brothers. Then she looked at Clarisse. "I'll strangle Connor and you beat up Travis?"

Clarisse nodded in agreement, but the Stolls were out the door before they could even step in their direction.

Katie sighed. "I'll go find them."

Thalia glanced at Clarisse and some sort of truce seemed to pass between them. I had no idea what they had fought about, and I was trying to squash down my curiosity since it wasn't my concern.

Percy slipped his arm around my waist, seemingly enjoying that I would let him do that now without freaking out. "I kind of liked the kitchen better. It was much more peaceful."

I laughed a little. "Agreed. This trip doesn't seem to ever want to stay peaceful for long though."

**}{}{}{}{}{}{**

We had all loaded ourselves back onto the bus about an hour later, off to our next destination. The Stoll brothers made sure to sit as far away from Thalia and Clarisse as possible. It was a quiet ride though. No one started up a sing-a-long or a very loud, very explicit game of telephone (don't ask) like during past rides. Everyone just seemed tired and sort of grumpy from the rather eventful morning. We all seemed to perk up a little when we were brought into a place that seemed similar to a YMCA.

As we were being lead down the hallway, Percy stared in awe at a pool behind a glass window. It was pretty early, so there was no one even in there.

I had to drag him away from it so he wouldn't get left behind from the group. "You really do have a fetish for water."

He looked back at it longingly. "I don't care if we aren't allowed; I'm so sneaking in there later."

Rolling my eyes, I replied sarcastically, "Have fun with that."

All of us had assumed they would have us split into groups. Nobody was very thrilled though when Chiron announced that we would be splitting into a boys group and a girls group. It's not that we didn't like each other, it just didn't sound quite as ideal as some of the other ways we could've been divided. We were going to be there for two hours. The guys were going to be in the main gym for the first hour while the girls were supposed to go to an art room they have, and then we would switch.

We were escorted to the art room to find that it had almost every kind of art supplies there was. No one seemed very interested except for me and Rachel. I found some random pieces of paper, a ruler, a protractor, and a pencil and I started sketching a bunch of different buildings. Rachel got some paints and a canvas and went to work. A few minutes later, Thalia walked in with a guitar in hand. I hadn't even noticed that she wasn't with us.

"Where did you find that?" Katie asked her.

She shrugged and started tuning the guitar as she plopped down on a seat. "I noticed we had passed a music room on the way and so I went and snagged this."

"So now that the guys aren't around," Rachel said without even looking up from her work. "What started that whole fight earlier?"

Thalia started playing a tune that sounded like Ocean Avenue by Yellowcard and she looked at me. "Well, the Stoll brothers set the whole thing off because they were making fun of how you and Percy were locked in the kitchen together. And then of course Clarisse had to put her two cents in."

Clarisse threw a small ball of clay at her. "All I said was that Prissy wouldn't have the balls to actually do anything with her. I was just hoping it would shut them up because their babbling was beginning to drive me crazy." 

"Thanks," I snapped at her. I just decided to ignore her comment about Percy. There was really no point in arguing with her because she makes her mind impossible to change.

"So I told her to knock it off," Thalia continued. "And we started saying some pretty nasty things about each other. Sorry about that, by the way."

She simply waved off the apology. "Whatever. I think some of what we were saying was kind of true though."

"You two are so vague," Silena stated bluntly. "We already could guess that you said some harsh stuff, we were looking for more specifically what you were ripping on each other about."

"Her father," Clarisse said, revealing one of the things she tore at.

"Her brothers," Thalia admitted.

"Her mother."

"Her father."

"Luke."

"Chris."

Clarisse finished off the list, "Nico."

"Is it sad that we have this many sore spots?" Thalia asked jokingly as she switched the song she was playing over to Dance Dance by Fall Out Boy.

We all chuckled a little in response. All of us seemed to have multiple touchy subjects.

There were a couple minutes of silence except for Thalia playing the guitar until she spoke again, "Since I'm the only one here for my third year, I guess I sort of need to run this thing. The whole reason Chiron split us this way is because he thinks that there are some things that we would rather not have the guys knowing because they might rip on us for it and vice versa. So, does anyone have anything they would want to share?"

"Mine's kind of stupid, but I have something," Rachel volunteered. "I wouldn't really care if the guys knew; I just don't feel like dealing with the Stolls. Anyway, one of things that really bugged me about my parents was that they tried to have me be their proper little rich girl. So they sent me to some obnoxious all girls school that I hated with a burning passion. And so I have multiple paintings in my room with the school uniforms being destroyed."

"In what ways?" Clarisse asked. She would be interested in the destruction aspect of something.

"Well, some of them were simple. Like one was of it being burned. But some of them were a bit strange like being trampled by wildebeests." To my surprise, no one commented on the randomness of the wildebeests.

"I have one that I would never hear the end of from the guys. And, come to think of it, you all will probably never let me live it down either," Silena spoke up. "The reason I was sent here for was reckless driving. In most cases, you wouldn't be sent on this trip for like one small crash or something. I had multiple points on my license though from different instances. One of them was because I was fixing my make-up while driving."

None of us laughed for a few seconds because we weren't sure she'd be okay with it. She allowed it though and we bursted into hysterics.

As we all started winding down, Katie asked, "Does anyone else have anything? Because I don't really have anything I would have issues saying in front of the guys, so I should probably hold off on it for when we're all together."

"Actually," Rachel said," Annabeth, can I ask you about something?"

Fear of what she could ask gripped my heart, but then I calmed myself by knowing that she didn't know enough about me to ask anything _really_ bad.

"That depends," I told her. "What?"

She grabbed a random piece of paper and sketched something on it quick. When she finished, she pushed it across the table to me.

"The night when everyone was showing things they hide, I thought I noticed that scar. I believe it was on your shoulder," she elaborated and I nodded simply. The paper she had given me had quite an accurate picture of that scar. "You don't have to explain if you don't want to, but don't scars like that usually come from bullets?"

I could feel my throat constrict a little. Out of the scars I had, that was the one I was truly ashamed of. The others I had gotten from that fight where I took two lives, but this one just seemed to really prove I was out of control. Thalia seemed to notice that I spaced a little and my expression was probably a bit panicked so she stopped playing The Kids Aren't Alright by The Offspring and came and placed a comforting hand on my back.

"It's just something I'm not proud of," I said a bit breathlessly.

"You don't have to explain," Rachel told me. It was too late though. Since it was asked, I felt like I had to answer.

"It's okay," I assured her, relaxing a bit more. "I've killed three people before. One of them was completely separate, but the other two happened in the same time frame. After both of them were dead, I was just frozen there in shock. And so the cops finally showed and I was still standing there stupidly with a knife in my hand. Their arrival was just such a sudden rush of events that I turned and I guess I still looked like I was going to attack. One of them must've thought it was a gun in my hand because he shot me thinking I was going to try and fight them off."

In case you didn't catch on; that was part of the immediate aftermath of when I killed Tammi and Kelli. It was the most shameful to me because I even made the police see me as enough of a threat that they had to open fire on me. Thinking about it just made me feel like a monster.

No one said anything, much to my relief. Silena, Katie, and Rachel all just seemed pretty shocked while Thalia and Clarisse made it seem like they thought that it was cool. Those two can just be so unexplainable.

The rest of our time in the art room was spent just kidding around. We actually started a game of Pictionary at one point which was rather interesting. I'll just say it nearly started a war in there because we're all so competitive and we took it way too seriously.

When it was finally time for us to switch, we passed by the guys in the hallway.

Somehow I didn't find it surprising when Percy pulled me over. "Meet me in the pool fifteen minutes before we're supposed to leave."

He didn't give me a chance to respond before he went off with the rest of the guys. So that left me feeling stuck. Since there was no way we would be dry by the time we got on the bus, we would obviously get busted for going in. But I didn't even get to tell him no, so I would feel like I was just blowing him off if I didn't sneak out.

"Annabeth," Katie called, snapping me back to reality. "Are you coming?"

I went and caught up with them and headed into the gym. None of us wanted to play a game of basketball or anything. We wanted to play flag football, but considering we didn't have very many people, it would've been no fun.

So we settled for Kill the Carrier which actually turned out to be a ton of fun (though somewhat painful). We all avoided Clarisse because we learned very quickly that she wasn't the fastest, but if she caught you she was strong enough that it really hurt. I had been doing a good job avoiding them when I had the ball until Silena tripped me and I fell flat on my face, but I just laughed it off and got back up. Thalia was the fastest though. At some point she ending up being the carrier, and we all had to pretty much try and surround her since we couldn't chase her down. And so we all pretty much ended up in a huge dog pile to try and get the ball from her. We were all kind of crushing each other, but we wound up laughing in that pile for a good few minutes.

I happened to glance at the clock and I noticed that we would be leaving in fifteen minutes. Making up my mind, I told the girls I had to go the bathroom and excused myself to the hallway. Instead of the bathroom though, I headed in the direction of the pool.

**I know the fight between Clarisse and Thalia was random, but it might come back a little in later chapters. And honestly, I can so see those to really going at each other if they started arguing.**


	18. Chapter 18

**Thanks to all who reviewed last chapter:** Hedley is Amazing, Regina de Morte a.k.a. Mezza, Green-ac-percabeth, HunterofArtemis32, Bookninja15, xXWeirdChikkiXx, ixdookiie, Riley Coyote, klydo, booklover51089, filmyfurry, ffsah1, redwolf12, courixoxo, Sargent fuzzy bear, soul61, titan616, Insanity is my second name, DaughterofHades101, candy0304, ShadesOfGrey97, BabyYou'reAllThatIWant, EPICThunder, obsessivereader95, demigodlove, Teffisay2010, Alexandra Nightshade, C-Nuggets N.L, ILove2Write13, Resa Hemoor, biancadiangelo0703, Chaoshime, Perseus12, HiThereSmiley, SeaweedBrain113097, mugglelover88, ancientdragonduelist

**I don't own PJO.**

**I also have news for all of you. I have to give a special thanks to ReadrOfBooks for nominating this story for a Verita award in the "Best AU" category. For those of you who don't know what the Veritas are, they are pretty much awards that go to a story under a bunch of different categories. I'm not sure when voting starts, but I'll update you all if I find out in case you find this story worthy to vote for. I'll put the link to the site up on my profile (I posted it, so it should pop up soon). If you actually read this lengthy author's note, thank you for your time.**

**On with the chapter!**

**Annabeth POV**

"Hey, I knew you'd come," Percy's voice called teasingly from within the pool as I stepped into the huge room.

I chuckled. "Yeah. Thanks for being all sketchy about it in the hallway."

"No problem," he joked back as he swam over toward the edge where I was standing.

On his way over I could faintly see through the water the red marks smeared across his back. Of course, this led me to blurt out something stupid. "Doesn't the chlorine bother your burns?"

He laughed. "You just have to know _everything_, don't you? They've pretty much scarred and scabbed over, so it doesn't hurt. If I tried this a few months ago, it wouldn't have been pleasant."

"Sounds exciting," I told him sarcastically. "So, why did you ask me to come here?"

"I had intended on you being my swimming buddy, but you don't seem to have any intention of coming in," he admitted.

"Nope, not really. I'll go in up to my knees on the steps though."

As I did so, he floated his way over to the steps. He stood when he reached the shallow end, only peaking my interest to see his scars again more. I got a good look at them when he came and stood next to me. Most of them had scarred over as he had said, but the skin around the main burns still looked red and inflamed.

Running the risk of freaking him out, I gently glided my hand across the marred flesh. "These look like they really hurt."

He shrugged. "Most scars look that way. Even a few weeks after I got these I still walked around feeling like I had a hot iron strapped to my back."

"Ow."

"It's not a big deal, they're fine now."

"What did you do?" I teased. "Dash into a burning building?"

His mouth twitched into a smirk. "Something like that. I guess I hadn't really mastered the whole 'stop, drop, and roll' thing too well."

I hit his shoulder lightly. "You're not funny."

Apparently, my face betrayed my words.

"Really?" he challenged. "Because you always seem to laugh."

Trying to brush this off easily, I shrugged. "I can't help it. I'm always in a better mood around you."

I had meant it to just be a light and kind comment, but he apparently took it much more to heart. The next thing I knew, his hand was gently on the side of my face, turning my head to face him. "You always put me in a better mood too."

Our eyes caught each other's gaze, scanning for uncertainty. None was found as Percy's hands slid onto my hips and mine rested against his chest. I could feel his hammering heart beat on my fingertips. He ducked his face down closer to mine and our lips almost met.

Keyword in that last sentence: almost.

"Peter Johansen and Annabell Lace!" Mr. D shouted from the doorway. "Did you honestly think you could slip away from the group just to play your inappropriate games?"

Inappropriate games? I then realized what kind of scene we probably created. I was sweaty and my hair was messy from Kill the Carrier, not to mention I had rolled my shorts up pretty much to my ass so they wouldn't get wet when I stuck my legs in the water. Percy was soaking wet, shirtless, and his hair was also a disaster because he had shook his hair around to try and dry it out. We were also pretty damn tight up against each other and our faces had been all of two inches apart. I guess I could see what Mr. D was talking about.

"Um," Percy sputtered. "Would you believe me if I told you that you just happened to walk in at the wrong moment?"

"Not one bit," he responded. "Come with me. I'm sure Chiron will love hearing about this."

I'm surprised he decided to let Chiron deal with this, but I wasn't about to protest it. Mr. D led us outside to where everyone was boarding the buses. They were all watching from the windows as the chaperones spoke with us. Thankfully, Percy had put his shirt back on and I had rolled down my shorts so the scene probably didn't suggest as much. Chiron listened intently as Mr. D gave a rather exaggerated description of how he found us.

When he finished, Chiron seemed to be thinking deeply. "I'm disappointed in you two."

"Sir," Percy tried to step in, but shut up when Chiron simply raised a hand to silence him.

"I don't care much about how Mr. D found you," he explained. "I'm not an imbecile. I'm aware of the relationships all of you tend to form on these trips, and I don't plan on interfering. I feel like that is half of the point to this program. As for details about those relationships, I see them as better left unknown to me."

"But you're disappointed that we snuck off," I said for him, knowing where this was going. "Especially since we were specifically told to stay with our groups."

He nodded. "Precisely. You all were put into this program due to behavioral problems like committing crimes. Even though we try to put this program in a gentler light, it's supposed to be disciplinary so you know how to conduct yourselves in society without getting into trouble. If you can't follow simple directions, how are you supposed heed any sort of rules out in the world?"

I felt like I was being lectured like a small child. It kind of bothered me, but I pushed the annoyed feeling away. I had done something stupid; the lecture wasn't the worst punishment I could get.

As if we were on the same wavelength, Percy and I both uttered, "Sorry."

"I'm not looking for an apology," he told us. "Annabeth, I understand this is your first year. First-year teens usually get into much worse trouble, so I suppose I can let you off the hook. Though you are a very wise girl, and I expect better from you in the future."

I kind of thought that he was taking something so small way too seriously. But I understood his logic behind it. If we couldn't follow a rule that was so damn simple, I can see how he would believe that we wouldn't be so good with more serious rules in the future. Like laws, for example.

The two of us went to get on the bus, but Chiron called, "Percy, I still want to talk to you considering this is your third year and I had thought you knew better."

The second I got on the bus, I was greeted by Clarisse. "What the hell happened? Did you and Pretty Boy get caught making out or something?"

I ignored the comment and went and sat in a random seat. I curled in on myself against the window, wondering when I started becoming such an idiot. Of course I would get busted. My luck is terrible.

"What do you think they're going to do to him?" Travis asked his brother as they looked out the window to see Chiron still talking with Percy.

"Maybe they'll think of a funny punishment," Connor said in excitement. "Like having to talk backwards for an entire day."

"Dude, that would be hilarious," Travis replied. "I'd never be able to do that. Nothing I would say would make any sense."

Finding an opportune moment to make fun of Travis, Katie chimed in. "Nothing you say forwards even makes sense."

"She has a point," Connor agreed, getting himself smacked upside the head by his brother.

I don't think I was intended to hear, but I caught Luke whisper to Thalia, "You don't think they'll pull him off the trip, do you?"

My eyes probably grew to the size of softballs. I hadn't even thought of that. It seemed like a dumb thing to get thrown off the trip for, but why else would he still be talking to Chiron for so long? I felt guilty, but didn't understand why. _He _had invited _me _to the pool. I was stupid enough to join him, yet it wasn't like I started it. We had just started getting so close again, and so the thought of him not being on the trip anymore made me feel ill. It couldn't have been a worse time for him to go.

After a few minutes of me panicking, he retreated into the bus and plopped down next to me.

"Are you getting kicked off the trip?" I spewed out immediately.

His eyebrows arched at me in confusion and he started laughing a little. "You worry _way _too much. You have to like rob a bank for Chiron to throw you off. He was just lecturing me on how I should take more responsibility since it's my third year. And he told me that he's going to give me some little random punishment when he thinks of one."

Relief washed over me. He wasn't leaving. He would still be on the trip tomorrow. In my happiness, I hadn't even noticed I had crashed my lips against his until I pulled back to see his stunned face.

"What was that for?" he asked though by no means did he look upset.

"Finishing what we had started before Mr. D rather rudely interrupted us earlier."

So the first kiss I ever had with a guy I actually really liked happened in a bus full of teenage criminals. How freakin' romantic.


	19. Chapter 19

**Thanks to all who reviewed last chapter: **demigod-wannabe-love, AmeeThePercabethLover, Chaoshime, mavk4444, Hedley is Amazing, ..94, R h i a n d u r, JustAnotherAthenaGirl, DaughterofHades101, courixoxo, Athenagal22, C-Nuggets N.L, Green-ac-percabeth, Insanity is my second name, storyteller1425, Hannahzzz, XX TEARS DON'T FALLXX, Wise-Gurl, HunterofArtemis32, Annabeth-Kahlan-Alanna-Cara, DammitimmaD, ShadesOfGrey97, ILove2Write13, ecritchie, booklover51089, xXWeirdChikkiXx, kldsn123, Regina de Morte a.k.a. Mezza, JordanMathias, TwinkleLights123, book-freak20, Bookninja15, klydo, filmyfurry, buzzlessbee, ffsah1, biancadiangelo0703, luis1113, bubble drizzles, Alexandra Nightshade, BabyYou'reAllThatIWant, Apollo 11o, Perseus12, SeaweedBrain113097, athenasgurl62, LivingInACupcake, candy0304, redwolf12, HiThereSmiley, obsessivereader95, Katie-potatey, ObSesSeDwIthMBAV77, SoccerGirl8

**BabyYou'reAllThatIWant****: I chuckled a little when I read your review. I didn't think of any of that when I wrote that line. But that sounds eerily like something I would do (make something huge out of such a small implication. No, I didn't intend any of that though.**

**A couple of you seemed confused about Percy's scars last chapter. Yes, they were mentioned earlier in the story. It was toward the end of chapter eight.**

**And just a side note: voting for the Veritas starts August 31****st****. I will post a reminder of this when the date gets closer. If any of you think this story deserves the award the in "Best AU" category, then please go vote for it when the time comes.**

**I don't own PJO.**

**Annabeth POV**

It didn't take long for everyone to figure out we were together. We had stopped in some random park where we would be camping out in tents again. Percy and I walked off the bus, hand-in-hand, and probably grinning like morons. I couldn't have cared less though.

"So, are you guys just being all flirty again or did you two finally get together?" Nico asked as we approached the trio of him, Luke, and Thalia.

We lifted our intertwined hands to see if he got the message.

"Does this answer your question?" I shot back.

His eyes widened. "I was kidding around, but are you serious?"

Percy nodded. "Yep."

No one was surprised when Thalia chimed in with, "It's about time."

I shot her a look because she really shouldn't be talking. "Anyway, I'm just happy they didn't kick him off the trip."

"Chiron says he's going to have to come up with some other punishment for me," Percy added.

"Ouch," the trio said in unison.

"What's so bad about Chiron's punishments?" I asked.

Nico laughed. "He gets very creative with them. He finds one thing about you and his punishment picks at it."

Luke nodded in agreement. "I got in trouble my first year because I broke one of the tents in a fit of rage. He knew I wasn't proud to be in my gang at that point even though I still was that year. So he gave me a marker and had me trace my gang tattoo on my arm like twenty times. It was like a mind game. The more times I traced it, the more I just wanted that tattoo gone. One of the first things I did after the trip was get it removed."

"Yeah, his punishments really suck," Thalia said. "My first year there was this girl I didn't get along with at all, Zoё Nightshade. The whole reason I got in trouble was because I kind of punched her in the face during an activity. So Chiron made me just stand there while she said whatever the hell she wanted to me as punishment. If I did anything back, even if I just rolled my eyes, I would've been kicked off the trip. He knew that would bother me because I hated seeing that triumphant little smirk on her face."

"That Zoё girl doesn't sound too great," I told her.

Her eyes darkened. "Don't say that. I became friends with her at the end of that summer. She died just after the trip last year."

"I'm sorry," I apologized, leaving things awkwardly quiet. I was kind of curious about the girl, yet I figured it would be better if I just left the subject alone.

"It's fine." Something about her tone told me it definitely wasn't fine though.

"I caught got in a scenario where he thought I was going to take those drugs again," Nico said flatly. "So he made me play that game I told you about; the one that my sister died going to get. I don't know how he knew about it, but playing it had been torturous."

"These all sound pretty harsh," I noted.

Luke shrugged. "They aren't ill-intended though. He usually has reason to why he does them. And even though we would never admit it, it probably benefited us in some way."

"So good luck on the chopping block," Thalia told Percy, clapping him on the shoulder.

"Everyone listen up!" Chiron called loudly, gathering our attention. "Yes, this is the start of another activity. Each of you will be given a piece of paper and a writing utensil. We will also draw names so that you will know who you have for this activity. You will write a letter to that person, discussing what you think of them or telling them anything you choose. I will be very disappointed though if any of these letters are treated as total jokes. These need to be finished by tomorrow's campfire and until then, no one else can know who you have."

As everyone got their person and started thinking about what to write, I noticed Luke and Thalia smiling at each other like they were trying not to laugh.

"Okay, I'll bite," I said to them. "What's so funny?"

"I got him our first year," Thalia explained. "And I still wasn't exactly on the best terms with him at the time."

"That's an understatement," Luke told her.

She shrugged. "Do you still have my letter?"

He pulled his bag off his back and tore through its contents until he pulled out an old crumpled sheet of paper. Smoothing out the paper, he read, "143 Things I Hate About You. 1) Your stupid smug smirk. 2) The fact that you are the definition of a dumb blonde. 3) That you can never make up your mind. 4) That you're a backstabber. 5) That you're one of those guys who wear their pants way too low-"

Thalia laughed. "That was a funny one."

He made some sort of sound of agreement. "And you even had the courtesy to write a small list of stores where I could buy a belt in the margin."

"You managed to come up with 143 things like that?" Nico asked her in disbelief.

"Like I said, I still kind of hated him then," she pointed out simply.

"I just hope people come up with some funny ones like that this year," Percy said, to which all of us agreed.

**}{}{}{}{}{}{**

"So, are you going to tell me who you got?" Percy teased playfully. The two of us were sitting in the middle of where we had set up camp that night. Technically, all of us were still allowed out for like ten more minutes before the chaperones would send us to bed. Pretty much everyone else had already called it a night though. So Percy and I were just relaxing together, working on our letters under the dim light of only a simple lantern.

"Nope," I told him. "Chiron said we aren't supposed to tell people and, after hearing about his punishments, I'm not going to do something like that to jeopardize being put on his list."

"You make it sound like he has a hit list."

I chuckled. "I don't think Chiron does. Mrs. Dodds probably does."

"What about Mr. D?"

"Definitely."

"Do you think I'm at the top of his list?"

"Nah, I think the Stolls have you beat by a mile."

We laughed at this and just sat quietly for a little. Then out of nowhere, Percy swooped his head down and pressed his lips to mine. I forced back a surprised sound at the gesture, and simply complied with the kiss. When he pulled back, his eyes seemed to be shining happily.

"What was that for?" I asked.

He shrugged. "Just because I can."

"Oh, so _that's _the only reason you kissed me," I said in mock-hurt.

Percy clearly didn't get that I was joking with him. "No. I-I…"

"Relax," I cut him off, tossing my letter aside and leaning against his chest. "I was only kidding around."

"I know," he sighed. "We just got together like this morning though, so I still feel like I'm on thin ice. And I'd hate to be one of those very random couples that last all of a few hours."

"Let's try and make it at least a week," I told him, only joking slightly.

"Without breaking up or without strangling each other?"

I grinned. "I meant without breaking up, but without strangling each other would be nice too."

It felt comfortable to just sit there with him, even in the dead of night. The way our conversations flowed just made it seem like we were in our own little world and nothing else was going on around us. It was peaceful, and that's definitely not a word I usually use to describe my life. Go figures Mr. D had to once again ruin the moment by yelling at us to get to our tents.

"I think we just made it to the top of his hit list," I grumbled as we picked up our letters and headed to bed.


	20. Chapter 20

**Thanks to all who reviewed last chapter: **EPICThunder, Suki-Alanna, cindella204, biancadiangelo0703, ffsah1, DammitimmaD, Alexandra Nightshade, AmeeThePercabethLover, demigod-wannabe-love, starglow13, Athenagal22, buzzlessbee, soul61, PJATO-FAN-4-LIFE, PanicxAtxThexDiscoxFan, Annabeth-Kahlan-Alanna-Cara, Regina de Morte a.k.a. Mezza, candy0304, Allofthenamesaretaken, Mary Rachel, ILove2Write13, Green-ac-percabeth, Hedley is Amazing, HunterofArtemis32, Lizabeth666, Rainbow Pegasi, PJO Rocks My Socks, Bookninja15, LivingInACupcake, Insanity is my second name, storyteller1425, HiThereSmiley, Chaoshime, C-Nuggets N.L, weluvwaffles2218, percabeth1291, Integrity21, MelRose520, DaughterofApollo101, obsessivereader95, ancientdragonduelist, alexandriarulzforeva, Poopsie101, GreekMythologyFreak98, SeaweedBrain113097, LovingThalico

**There were a couple of reviews lat chapter saying they wanted me to post all of Thalia's "143 Things I Hate About You" letter to Luke. I tried writing it. I got to about 42 and it started getting difficult. So if I come up with more I might post it as like a bonus chapter the end of this story or something.**

**I still don't own PJO.**

**Annabeth POV**

"Dear Prissy, Preppy, Pretty Boy, Twerp, or Dumbass," Clarisse addressed Percy the next night since she was the first one to read the letters we wrote. Chiron shot her a look for the language, but she just shrugged it off.

"Thanks," I heard Percy grumble next to me. I just laughed and linked my hand with his.

Clarisse didn't seem to notice as she continued with her letter. "I was honestly annoyed that I got you for this activity. Out of all the people I could've gotten, you're probably the last one I wanted. Because you aren't really my favorite person, yet you aren't quite as aggravating as the Stolls so it's a little harder to make fun of you. So I'm going to keep this quick and to the point. Last year I wanted nothing more than to kill you. This year you have been promoted to simply annoying. By my standards, you should take that proudly. And if you find it completely necessary you can take it as a compliment because that's the closest thing to one you're going to get from me. P.S.: If you let any of this go to your head I will squash you like a bug."

Percy laughed. "How heart-warming."

She rolled her eyes and shoved the letter at him. "I could've just made fun of you instead."

He seemed to appreciate that she didn't do that.

"Nico," Chiron called. "Would you go next?"

Nico nodded in agreement and walked closer to the fire so he'd be able to see what was written on his paper. "Dear Rachel. To be blunt, I was kind of freaked out by you at first. You kind of kept to yourself and I spent quite a bit of time wondering why you seemed to purposely enjoy shredding up your clothes and drawing on them. I guess it's just the artsy side of you. And I probably shouldn't be the one talking about clothing styles. Anyway, the more you started to open up, the less I worried that I'd find you sketching me getting killed by zombies or something. And even though I still don't really know very much about you, I at least know that I hope to see your art in a museum someday. And that says a lot since I don't even like museums."

In sharp contrast to Percy and Clarisse's earlier exchange, Rachel smiled at Nico and thanked him when he went and handed her the letter.

"Chris," Chiron said. "You're up."

He nodded and stood with his letter. "Beckendorf, I'll start by saying that I owe you quite a bit. Even though you're girlfriend did most of the meddling, we both know you had a bit to do with getting Clarisse and I together. I probably wouldn't have ever asked her out for fear of her punching my lights out if you hadn't talked me into it. And in the meantime, you've help me with my withdrawal and you've become a close friend. You're really a good guy, even if you don't say all that much."

Beckendorf just laughed as Chris went and handed him the letter.

"Thalia," Chiron turned to her. "Your turn."

Seeming to already pretty much know what she had written, or maybe just improvising, Thalia held her letter loosely at her side. "Katie, I would first like to congratulate you on being the first person through my three years of having to do this activity that I'm not pretty much writing a hate letter to. I may not know you as well as some other people on this trip, but you're pretty cool considering you're also one of the few I haven't seen have a total breakdown on this trip, myself included. One other thing I will say though, I have no idea how you ended up on this trip. No matter how many times you tell me you grew drugs, I just laugh at the idea. Anyway, I do hope we both do something else stupid so I can see you on this trip next year."

Katie chuckled as she went and gave Thalia a hug, getting the letter as well.

Chiron, who was rolling his eyes at Thalia's closing statement, spoke up. "Rachel, why don't you go?"

She took a deep breath and began. "Luke, from day one I didn't know what to think of you. I'd heard some stuff about things you've done in the past and that made me kind of weary about you. In fact, I attached to this letter a sketch I drew of you possessed by the devil. I know that's a bit morbid, but it was the impression I had gotten of you. Then I started seeing you with your friends on this trip, laughing and smiling away. It made you appear so much more innocent. I apologize for judging you even though you didn't know I did. Hopefully, I'll just continue to see you as the innocent guy laughing along with his friends."

Luke seemed unsure of how to react to that, yet smiled appreciatively when she went and gave him the letter.

"Connor," Chiron announced, gesturing for him to go next.

The Stoll brother was grinning like an idiot as he unfolded his paper. "Dear Travis. First of all, I would like to acknowledge the irony in the fact that I got you for this activity. However, I must also say that it was sort of boring to write this since it was like writing a letter to myself. So I'll keep it simple. A lot people hate their siblings, and I'm glad to be able to say that I get along with mine. It also makes it easier when we get in trouble. We never have to squabble over who needs to get the blame, because ninety percent of the time we both are to blame. If we didn't get along, I would greatly miss people turning to us the second something goes wrong, instantly knowing we were the cause. There is no way I could've pictured myself on this trip without my partner-in-crime by my side."

The two of them laughed and went to cause a mock-scene in front of the fire; jokingly hugging like they were never going to let go and fake crying for a good five minutes.

Chiron finally had to go and break the two apart. "Alright, we got the point. Beckendorf, it's your turn."

Beckendorf pushed himself off the ground and went closer to the fire to read his paper. "Dear Clarisse. I had absolutely no idea what to write in this letter. All I know is that you kind of scared me from day one. However, Silena always go on and on about how you're actually a good person, so I guess you aren't as mean as you make yourself seem. And I know you probably hate me for saying that, but it's probably the truth. Anyway, I hope that maybe I get to see more of the less deadly side of you some day."

To no one's surprise, Clarisse went and snagged her letter from him. He just grinned mildly as if that was the reaction he was expecting.

"Annabeth," my head jerked in Chiron's direction in surprise when he said my name. "You're up."

I slipped my hand from Percy and got up to approach the fire. "Silena, there is way too much I could've written in this letter and I don't even know you _that _well. To sum up though, you are the friend that everyone needs. You're the kind of girl who'll force a person into doing something they don't want to, but only if you know it will benefit them. I would've never pictured you as the threatening type, but you can get pretty gutsy when you really want things to go your way. P.S.: You don't have to keep saying 'I told you so'; I'm fully aware that you tried to tell me I would end up getting together with Percy."

There were a couple chuckles at the last part as Silena came up and practically tackled me in a hug. Once she finally pulled away, I handed her the paper and we returned to our spots. Percy instantly placed his arm around my waist and I leaned into his shoulder.

"It's hard not to feel full of myself when you mention me in a letter than wasn't for me," he commented.

I jabbed my elbow into his gut. "Don't get use to feeling high-and-mighty."

He chuckled. "As if you would ever dream of letting me feel superior."

We stopped our bantering when Chiron said, "Katie, step right up."

Katie seemed mildly annoyed as she unfolded her paper. "Dear Connor. I'll start by saying that the only person I wanted less than you for this activity was your brother, so you can assume I wasn't too thrilled to write this. There is only one nice thing I can honestly think to say. And that's that I'll very reluctantly admit that _some_ of your pranks are funny. I feel the need to stress the word 'some' because I definitely didn't find it funny when you stole all of my underwear or when you nearly set me on fire. That does not mean I want you to continue these pranks that nearly get you killed on a daily basis, but I know you will anyway."

Connor went to get his letter and picked her up in a hug just to piss her off. She started pounding her fists into his back furiously yet he had no reaction as if he was totally used to this.

"Connor, please go sit down," Chiron requested politely and Connor obeyed. "Percy, would you care to go next?"

Percy didn't answer; he just slid away from me and walked to the fire, opening his paper as he went. "Thalia, there are so many things I had that I could've written in this letter after only knowing you for two full summers and part of a third. I could've listed all of the times you've hit me for doing something you considered stupid or annoying, but I figured that would've taken forever. Instead I found it easier to sum up some nicer things about you in a few sentences. Even though you will always call me an idiot, I know you actually care about me like I'm your brother or else you wouldn't have helped me out so much these past few years. And even though your strength is often just a façade, it is still one of your best qualities. If neither of us is back on this trip next year, I still want us to keep in contact."

The second he finished, Thalia went up and gathered Percy in a hug. She whispered something in his ear, probably a thank you, to which he nodded before taking the letter and returning to her seat.

I instantly went to teasing Percy as he sat down next to me and wrapped his arms around me again. "You know, that whispering with her is very sketchy. Should I be worried?"

Knowing I was kidding he decided to test me back. "Nope. Just don't throw another fit like you did about Rachel."

I narrowed my eyes at him. "You're one to talk. You were so pissed about Luke."

"Should we just call it a draw?" he proposed.

"I guess. And I must say, I'm impressed."

"For what?"

"That you could write such a nice letter," I told him. "And that you knew what façade meant."

He nudged my head playfully with his. "Shut up."

We hadn't even noticed Chiron had called Silena up until she started reading her letter. "Dear Chris. First of all, I'm so very proud of you for taking my advice and asking Clarisse out. You made it obvious you like her since day one. Anyway, you're a really nice guy despite the background you have. I've learned a bit about you from not only you, but I think you would also like to know Clarisse talks about you a lot." Clarisse looked ready to murder her, yet that didn't faze Silena at all. "You're calm and kind even though you I can tell you look down on yourself. You have a lot going for you though. So all I have to say is stop doubting it."

Chris just mumbled a quick thank you as he went and grabbed the letter.

"Luke," Chiron said as the other pair went and sat down. "It's your turn."

With a sigh, Luke went and stood by the fire. "Nico, I've known you for a while now and I do consider you to be one of my best friends even though it doesn't always seem this way. When you joined the trip last year I knew from the beginning we would be friends. You were always happy around the people you were closer with, but it was always evident you had dark secrets tagging along behind you. That trait made me automatically think of myself my first year. So I tried to understand you more and we became friends from it. This letter sounds really corny and stupid, yet I think you should honestly know you really a good friend of mine. And in all honesty, you are one of the few friendships I haven't ruined at some point or another."

Nico went and met him by the fire. They clapped each other on the back, grinning like dorks before Nico grabbed the paper and they went back to their spots.

As this exchange was going on, I caught Thalia staring blankly at the ground and I instantly felt bad for her. That whole thing must've just made it even more evident to her that she couldn't choose to be with one of them without not only hurting the other, but also hurting their friendship.

"Travis, you're the last one up," Chiron announced.

Doing a quick process of elimination, I realized that Travis's letter had to be for me. Oh dear god.

"Annabeth," Travis said, proving me correct. I could've sworn I heard Percy stifle a laugh. "I guess I have some things to admit to you. In case you haven't noticed, you're tan flip-flops have been missing for a few days now. I took them just to see if you noticed, but since I'm still alive to read this, you didn't notice they were gone. And I know this might scare you, but I'm going to be sincere for once. I was going through your bag to see if you had anything worthwhile for taking and I stumbled across that letter from your dad. I've kept my mouth shut about it, but I feel that I should say I am sorry about your brothers. Since I know it's coming, feel free to attack me now."

I stormed up to him, and he looked absolutely terrified. He probably looked even more paranoid though when I hugged him instead.

"You're not going to kill me?" he asked.

I chuckled, refusing to let tears slide at the death of my brothers being brought up again. "I'm just impressed you kept your mouth shut this long. In return, I think I should forewarn you about something."

"What?"

"I don't own tan flip-flops; those are Katie's." I pulled back from the hug to see him whirl and look at Katie. Her face had rage written all over it. "Good luck," I whispered to him and grabbed my letter.

"I'm guessing those flip-flops weren't yours," Percy observed as I joined him again. I was going to ask how he knew until I saw Katie scolding Travis, threatening him with 'I better get those back or else you will wake up in the lion cage of a zoo'.

I just laughed a little in response.

"Well, I must say I'm impressed," Chiron told us as he wheeled himself toward the fire. "This is probably the first time this activity has happened in many years without a fight breaking out." We all cheered sarcastically at that. "Now everyone get to bed before you get a chance to start one."

"Is something wrong?" Percy asked as we started walking toward all the tents. "You keep sniffling."

I hadn't even really noticed I was. "Travis's letter just got me thinking of my shitty family again. It's okay though. I'll forget about it by tomorrow."

Obviously not wanting to argue, Percy didn't comment on my feelings. "Do you wish he hadn't gotten you for the activity?"

"It's not that, it's just…" I shrugged. "I don't know, I just feel like his letter was just an apology and a mistaken confession. It was funny and nice, yet it didn't say much about me. I still love and appreciate it though."

"Maybe it wasn't about you because a letter isn't needed for someone to tell you you're awesome."

I tried not to laugh at his obvious flirting. "Alright Romeo, let's just go to our tents before Mr. D yells at us again."


	21. Chapter 21

**Thanks to all who reviewed last chapter: **Chaoshime, Insanity is my second name, MelRose520, mavk4444, cindella204, EPICThunder, Metue, Athenagal22, ixdookiie, DemigodLove, biancadiangelo0703, booklover51089, Alexandra Nightshade, ILove2Write13, LOVEPercabethOrElse, mimigem634, XX TEARS DON'T FALLXX, LivingInACupcake, PJO Rocks My Socks, SouthAmericanGirl, XxBloodThornxX, 3 words FAB., HiThereSmiley, Hedley is Amazing, .Squirrel, boxtoplad999, weluvwaffles2218, Greek-AC-Thalassa, Lizabeth666, soul61, storyteller1425, candy0304, SeaweedBrain113097, Kaleidoscope Heavens, ShadesOfGrey97, Regina de Morte a.k.a. Mezza, SoccerGirl8, Thalico-freak-99-Hecatejewel, C-Nuggets N.L, The Artemis

**I'm so sorry for the exceedingly late updating. Lately though, I've had major writer's block with this story and no drive to write this. Hopefully, I'm starting to get it back. It also didn't help that I've spent a lot of my writing time toying around with two original story ideas. Since none of you probably care about any of what I just said; on with the chapter!**

**I don't own PJO.**

**Annabeth POV**

Even though everything went well with the letters, everyone seemed to be in a bitter mood the next day. Clarisse was annoyed because of how many times her relationship with Chris got brought up last night as if it were some miracle she could get a boyfriend. I understood her anger, but it was quickly putting the people closer to her in a bad mood. Travis still refused to return Katie's sandals and he gave them to Connor to wear just to piss her off, and it was certainly working. Nico was in a sour mood for some reason and I could see him venting to Percy from across camp. And everyone else was walking on eggshells trying to stay out of the fighting.

I wasn't careful enough and got a bit of Thalia's bad mood at only about ten in the morning. We were taking down our tent and it was obvious she was pissed off just by the way she was handling all the tent equipment; growling in frustration when it was stuck and even throwing the tent poles to the ground once or twice. When she violently ripped the tarp out from under the tent, I couldn't bite back a comment.

"Let's try not breaking the tent," I snapped, maybe a little too sarcastically.

She shoved the tarp in my direction. "Fine, then you do it."

"Someone's grumpy," I grumbled.

"Well sorry for having a shitty night," she shot back.

"And that gives you the right to be a bitch because…?"

For a second, she gave me a glare deadly enough that I thought she was going to deck me. Then she took a deep breath, obviously trying to calm herself down.

"You're right. I'm sorry," she apologized half-heartedly.

Since the program wasn't in a hurry to leave, not many others had even started collapsing their tents yet. So I sat down on the grass and patted the spot next to me, motioning for her to come join me. With a sigh, she complied.

"So, why was last night so shitty for you?" I asked.

She gave me a look that made it evident that she didn't want to talk about it, but she knew I wouldn't let her get away with that. "Everything was fine until I woke up at about three in the morning. I don't know why I was up, I probably had a nightmare and just don't remember it. Anyway, so I left our tent to go get some fresh air and ran into Nico. All was fine and well until he brought up the whole scenario with him and Luke. I told him that I hadn't made up my mind and that him pressuring me wasn't helping. He got mad and started yelling about how it wasn't fair that I was leaving both of them hanging like that."

I shifted nervously, not wanting to slip out a comment.

Thalia noticed this though. "And I know I am leaving them hanging, but it's not like I asked for this. Neither of them are making it easy by bringing it up every other minute. They don't understand that I just need time to think. Of course, Nico just decided to screw with me even more."

"What'd he do?" I kind of suspected the answer, but I was sort fearing it being true.

"He kissed me," she explained, proving my guess correct. "I shoved him, telling him that he didn't get to scream about me being confused one minute and then mess with me even more the next. He shot back that that's what Luke always does and I let him get away with it."

"Ouch," I remarked.

She nodded in agreement. "So I told him to stop acting like he understood everything about me and Luke, and I sort of cussed him out a bit. He told me I was getting defensive of Luke, leading me to calling him some more choice words before we stormed back into our tents. And now the bitch little bitch isn't even being subtle about going off about me to Percy."

I looked over to where Nico was still talking to Percy, gesturing furiously. Percy looked extremely uncomfortable and even shot me a glance that screamed 'Help me'.

"Have you talked to Luke since this whole thing?"

"No," she replied. "But what the hell do I even say to him on the matter? Your good friend kissed me while we were having a shouting match about which of you I should choose? Something tells me that that wouldn't go over well."

"Well, I think you should talk to one of them," I suggested. "If you're not ready to swallow your pride and talk to Nico yet, then go talk to Luke."

She rolled her eyes. "You're a lot of help."

"At least I'm willing to help," I argued.

"True. So how are things with Percy?"

I was somewhat surprised, yet also happy that she asked. "They're great actually. In fact, he mentioned quickly to me earlier that he wanted to talk to me later. I'm not sure about what, but he didn't seem upset with me so it's probably a good thing."

"Have I mentioned that I envy that you relationship seems so uncomplicated?"

"No, you haven't," I laughed and patted her head, much to her dismay. "Don't worry. Things will get better for you. And things between Percy and I are sort of complicated, I just don't let it get to me."

She seemed to really take this into account before pointing to our right. "Well, here he comes now. Good luck with whatever he wants to talk about."

Before I got the chance to ask what she was talking about, she left swiftly and the next I knew Percy was sitting on the other side of me and wrapping and arm around my waist. I leaned into his side, and we just sat like that for a couple of minutes. It had been a habit we had fallen into. We both just liked sitting in each other's company that way.

"So…" I broke the silence at last. "What did you want to talk to me about?"

He ran his free hand through his short dark hair. "Well, I actually wanted to ask you something. But please don't get mad about it."

"Why would I get mad?"

"It has to do with your past."

"Oh." I know; what an intelligent answer. "Well, how about you ask the question and if it really bothers me I will just politely decline answering it."

He nodded. "I can live with that. I know this is none of my business, but I really want to know. How did you brothers die? They were young so it's not like they were driving and got in an accident, or they got wrapped up in gang stuff, and even though it's a possibly something tells me they didn't die of an illness like cancer or something."

"You're right. It wasn't any of those things," I told him. My mind was working a million miles a minute, trying to figure out a way to explain this. Since I didn't feel like giving my whole story either it was even more difficult.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked. It's just that especially since Travis brought up the letter again last night and I can tell it really upsets you, I just wanted to know. I wanted to be able to help you when you're so bummed about it."

"Percy?"

"Yeah?"

"You're rambling."

He blushed a little. "My bad."

"It's okay," I assured him. "And I intend on answering, I'm just trying to figure out how to put this."

"Take your time."

I most certainly did. It was hard to focus on the topic, especially while trying not to start crying again over it. I was taking long enough that at one point Thalia even returned and finished packing up our tent, shooting us a cautious look.

"I guess I'll start by saying that part of the reason I get so upset about it is because I partially blame myself for it," I murmured and this seemed to only trigger his curiosity further. "Two girls I killed had boyfriends that hated me even before that. So when they found out, they wanted revenge. They kidnapped my brothers months ago. I hadn't been positive my brothers were dead until my dad sent that letter. If I hadn't killed those girls, they might've still been alive."

Even though I hated to, I let a few tears slide down my cheeks. Percy pulled me into his lap and wrapped his other arm around me as well, bringing my face to rest against his chest.

"You can't blame yourself," he said, rubbing my back gently. "It's not like you knew for sure that would happen. Besides, those girls must've really deserved it if you killed them. And it's not your fault their boyfriends decided revenge was the best way to handle things. The fact that they went after kids is just sickening anyway."

"All of that sounds convincing to you," I told him. "And it should make sense to me too. But when you're the one dealing with the guilt, it's not so easy to think that way."

He simply nodded, unable to think of a response.

Pretty soon, Chiron called for all of us to head to the bus. Reluctantly, I got up out of Percy's grip. Only a couple seconds later though, he was on his feet and intertwining his fingers with mine. We probably really seemed addicted to each other.

"One other thing," Percy said, though now he seemed a bit more nervous. "I want…I want to tell you my story."

Quite a few different emotions hit me at once when he told me that. The one that seemed to filter through the most though was shock. "Not that I don't want to know your story, but why? What brought up the random change of heart?"

He sighed. "I have a feeling that Chiron's punishment is going to relate to it in some way. And if he decides to involve you in it too, I'd rather you not have no idea what's going on. It's about time I told you anyway."

"Sounds good. I'm assuming you didn't plan on telling me on the bus though."

"Not really. And actually, I won't be sitting with you. Nico doesn't want to sit by himself, with Luke, or with Thalia because of the spat he got in with her last night so he's kind of practically forcing me to sit with him."

I chuckled. "Fair enough. So I guess story time will have to wait until tonight?"

He shrugged. "I guess so. At least this gives me more time to work on my story-telling skills. Or else I would probably just confuse you about two minutes in."

"Understanding what you're saying would certainly be a good thing," I choked as we parted on the steps of the bus.

Is it sad that getting to hear Percy's story has pretty much become the equivalent to winning the lottery in my life?

I really need a new hobby or something.

**Even though you're all probably getting tired of hearing me prattle on about this, voting for the Veritas starts on August 31****st****. The link is on my profile so you can copy and paste it in your browser. For those of you who think story deserves the award for the Best AU, I hope you'll go and vote for it. I hope to post another chapter by then and I'll probably include another reminder. Thank you all for your support.**


	22. Chapter 22

**Thanks to all who reviewed last chapter: **ffsah1, cindella204, Poseidon's Favorite Daughter, Chaoshime, CHiKa-RoXy, C-Nuggets N.L, XxBloodThornxX, ILove2Write13, LivingInACupcake, EPICThunder, mavk4444, Lizabeth666, LLBSLover12, Lord Docteus, starglow13, FaZe-Life, biancadiangelo0703, DaughterofApollo101, Amian 4ever, candy0304, Regina de Morte a.k.a. Mezza, Massa, SouthAmericanGirl, Insanity is my second name, ThePinkWriter, obsessivereader95, Greek-AC-Thalassa, RomanGreekDemi, wingswordsandmetaphors, HiThereSmiley, athenasgurl62, book-freak20, PJO Rocks My Socks, Alexandra Nightshade, BabyYou'reAllThatIWant, ShadesOfGrey97

**Regina de Morte a.k.a. Mezza**: I really enjoyed reading your review and I don't intend on posting the stories on fictionpress anytime soon even though I've considered it, but I'll be sure to PM you if I decide to.

**book-freak20**: I was late posting this chapter because my computer hasn't been working for last few of days and it just started working late yesterday. And I normally try to update every weekend, but the summer completely threw off that whole pattern. I'll probably try and reach that point again now that the summer is almost (unfortunately) over.

**I don't own PJO.**

**Annabeth POV**

"So we'll meet you guys at the lake at three?" I asked.

Thalia nodded. "And feel free to show up a little early if possible. Because this is going to be super awkward."

"Good luck," I told her. "It looks like you're going to need it."

For the activity that day, we were starting off in this park and we were allowed to just wander this small town we were in. We could go off in whatever groups we chose, so of course I was going with Percy. Thalia ended up with Nico and Luke somehow, much to her annoyance. I was just praying she wouldn't kill them. We had two hours to roam so for the first hour I would be with just Percy and then we would meet up with Thalia, Luke, and Nico to all hang out.

She turned and headed off to her two guys and I headed back to Percy who was waiting for me so we could leave.

"Ready to go?" he asked, offering out his arm.

I linked my arm with his. "Yep, now let's get this show on the road."

The town was nice to walk around in. It was big enough that there was plenty to do, yet small enough that it was easy to locate. We would occasionally pass by our other friends on the program, but the streets were fairly clear otherwise.

I'll admit that I was pretty much waiting for Percy to tell me his story, but I wasn't going to bring it up. I wanted him to tell me on his own. So I was trying to find something else to talk about and for once the Stoll brothers were actually of assistance. We saw them scurrying toward an electronics store, their faces lit up maniacally.

"Are they really stupid enough to go steal stuff?" I voiced my thoughts.

Percy shrugged. "Apparently. It's practically part of their nature."

"They really better not get caught. It's so obvious this activity is a test."

"A test?" Percy asked, thinking about it for the moment. "I didn't think of it that way, but it makes perfect sense."

"Exactly," I agreed. "If any of us were to get in trouble, Chiron would have every right to come up with one of his punishments or kick us off the trip."

I noticed Percy got a little nervous when I mentioned Chiron's punishments. The suspense of what he was planning was probably killing him.

"You're still worried?" The question was in my voice, but barely so.

He nodded. "I know he wouldn't actually do anything harmful to you or anyone else on this trip, but I still worry that that is how he is going to get to me. He plays on everyone's flaws. And he knows my biggest one is how much I care for those closest to me."

I stopped us in the middle of the empty sidewalk. "Don't worry; none of us are going anywhere. Especially me." To prove my point further, I lightly kissed his lips.

The two of us were quiet as he walked me over to some bench outside of a small market. We both sat down, only our hands linked now as they rested on our knees that were pressed against each other's.

"I know that me worrying is probably beginning to get on your nerves which is just another reason I wanted to tell you my story," he explained.

"Okay then," I said, not knowing how else to respond. "Go ahead whenever you're ready."

To my surprise, he got to talking pretty quickly. "I've spent my whole life worrying whether or not people were okay. For a while my mom was married to this awful guy because we needed the money. After a while I was positive he had started hitting her. Every time I would leave the apartment for school or something, I was worried about how she would be by the time I got back. Sometimes I would even worry if she would be there by the time I got back."

"Is she still with him?" I really wanted him to continue, but I wanted to know that first.

Thankfully, he shook his head. "She dumped his ass a few years back. Actually, she got engaged to another guy not long before I left. He actually helped get me into my last school. And because I'm on this program to help me they're actually allowing me to return next year."

"That's good."

He nodded. "It's nice not having to worry about her anymore. Anyway, there's two other people I've worried about multiple times. One of them you know as Goat Boy, but his actual name is Grover."

I chuckled a little, remembering the mention of 'Goat Boy' from Tyson's letter. "Yeah, I remember."

"My first year I got sent here because I supposedly pushed the school bully into a fountain on a field trip. She passed out when it happened and sprained her wrist. Her parents went crazy trying to file assault lawsuits against me because they thought she might've had a concussion and stuff. They tried fining me and putting me into some anger management classes when I didn't even do anything. I think she just tripped and I happened to be near her. Grover was with me then too and we had gotten separated. I kept worrying that they were trying to blame him too."

"That sucks," I commented. "Did anything else happen with him?"

"Well, do you remember how Connor said that I blew up that bus?" I nodded and gestured for him to continue. "Grover was with me for that too and I'm not even positive _I _blew up the bus, but I think I might've. I don't remember exactly what happened, but I do remember Grover and I rushing off that bus just before it exploded. The two of us ran for it and I realized after a few days I was pretty much safe from being caught, yet I still couldn't help but fear that he may have been caught somehow."

"Connor also said that you had gotten kicked out of a lot of schools," I mentioned.

He shrugged. "Yeah, for various reasons. Starting fights, getting too many complaints from teachers that I wasn't paying attention in class, and other stuff like that. But if you'll let me explain the times I've had to worry about Tyson, you'll also figure out why I got kicked out of one of my schools."

"Sorry, I'll be quiet," I assured him.

"The second year I was sent here because one of the schools I was in had caught fire and they thought I started it somehow. I was in gym playing dodge ball and it was pretty competitive because Tyson and I were against some bully we both hated. I'm not sure how it happened, but a fire started in the gym. I might've accidentally broken a gas line or something, I don't really know. Bottom line; I tried to get to safety from the flames by escaping through a hole in the wall and apparently it looked like I was trying to flee 'the scene of the crime'. I hadn't been sure if Tyson followed me out of the building or not. I didn't care that the police were trying to question me; I was just focused on finding out if Tyson was okay. Thankfully he came out alive. But those minutes of uncertainty were enough to make me panic completely."

Since he seemed finished speaking, I found it to be an okay time to talk. "And so why are you here this year?"

"I'll keep this short," he told me. "Another fire started in my latest school and since I fled like last time, it once again made me a target. That one was the fire I got all the burns on my back from though. It gets to be a permanent reminder of how I can't seem to escape being blamed for shit I didn't do."

"Your story sounds like it has a lot of holes in it," I noted once I was done wincing over picturing the burns on his back again. "Like how all of this stuff happened if you didn't cause it."

"That's what makes it so frustrating," he pointed out. "I can't even explain it to anyone if I wanted to. People are always just looking for someone to blame for things and in those cases I guess I just made myself the main suspect. And the reason I hate telling my story is because it makes me almost relive the moments where I weren't sure if Grover or Tyson or my mom were okay. And a lot of the time I feel like I'm the blame for them being in those situations anyway."

"If it helps at all, you seem pretty well put together if nothing else," I told him.

He laughed at that. "I've been on this trip for three years. It would be pretty damn pathetic if I wasn't at least somewhat together."

"Very true."

"So, when do I get to hear your story?" he teased. My face probably resembled that of a deer caught in headlights. "I'm kidding. And quite frankly, mine was enough of a time waster. Let's go explore."

I hit his arm lightly. "You annoy me sometimes."

"Trust me when I say that you have made me fully aware of that on many occasions."

We didn't end up getting much longer to walk around before we met up with Thalia, Luke, and Nico though. We walked from street to street, chatting aimlessly as I mentally observed the architecture. Percy had noticed and said he was timing thirty seconds of me getting to blab about it since I seemed like I wanted to so badly. I barely got any words in during that time though because I kept laughing at Percy counting down in various stupid voices.

Knowing his story didn't seem to change my opinion about him at all though. It just explained to me why he was always so worried. And I felt like I knew him a bit better which complicated things less between us. Unfortunately, I knew I would have to share mine soon and I was not looking forward to that. But if he could make his story seem like no big deal, why couldn't I?

"There is no way you fell asleep in a pool."

"It's true! I was tired and didn't want to get out of the pool-"

"So that led you to the solution of sleeping on the steps of the pool?" I asked, mocking him a little.

"Yep. My skin was shriveled like a prune when I woke up, but it was worth it."

"You're so weird," I grumbled under my breath.

"So are you."

I couldn't really argue that.

We had been teasing each other like that the entire time as we walked to the lake to meet the others. Everything was going so well until we got close enough to see Thalia angrily push Nico and Luke into the lake. I guess those three really can't be left alone for very long.

**Quick reminder: voting for the Veritas starts today and this story is nominated for Best AU. I hope that if you think this story truly deserves the award and you can figure out how to vote that you go and do so. You have until September 7****th****. Thank you all.**


	23. Chapter 23

**Thanks to all who reviewed last chapter: **cindella204, Regina de Morte a.k.a. Mezza, RomanGreekDemi, Massa, dancingwithrainbows, The Moonlit Waters, Alexandra Nightshade, mavk4444, biancadiangelo0703, Capollo4Ever, C-Nuggets N.L, The Demititan Healer, Hedley is Amazing, Hidden in the flameS meSTDSD, Cherry Louise, GeekAtWork19, ILove2Write13, Chaoshime, SoccerGirl8, filmyfurry, silverwolf316, greek-ac-thalassa, SouthAmericanGirl, ffsah1, ShadesOfGrey97, bubble drizzles, , SeaweedBrain113097, mimigem634, Simple Chaos, HiThereSmiley, obsessivereader95, Bookninja15, Reading-and-Bubbling, ChildOfAthena

**I don't own PJO.**

**Annabeth POV**

For a second Percy and I just looked at each other, somehow shocked that Thalia actually pushed them into the lake. Snapping ourselves out of it though, we rushed forward to hopefully break up an oncoming fight. Everything just seemed tense for a moment after Luke and Nico resurfaced. But then they just started laughing. Even Thalia looked surprised for a second before joining them. While they were all in hysterics, I probably looked just as confused as Percy did.

"What just happened?" Percy asked after a moment. They ignored him.

"I cannot believe you just did that!" Nico yelled in between laughter.

As Luke tried to catch his breath, he commented, "The sad part is, that I don't find it odd at all that you just did that."

Thalia didn't remark on any of this as she went and offered them each a hand to pull them out. They both grasped her forearm and attempted to yank her into the water, but she pulled back harder and dragged them onto the ground. And they were all still chuckling.

"Let me try this again," Percy muttered under his breath before speaking up. "What is going on?"

They all spun to face us, seemingly only noticing us for the first time.

Luke pointed at Thalia. "She got pissed at us and decided the best way to resolve that was pushing us into the lake."

"Well, we can see that," I said obviously. "We were wondering _why_."

Thalia shrugged. "That doesn't concern you."

I arched an eyebrow at her while she purposely avoided my gaze. Whatever. I'd pry it out of her later anyway.

"Let's just get going," Nico spoke up, wringing out his shirt. "We have less than an hour to roam by this point."

"Alright," Percy agreed, still looking very confused as to what happened here.

**}{}{}{}{}{}{**

We made it back to the bus right on time. The five of us had actually mostly wound up chilling in front of random stores, eating whatever we had bought in them. Because even though the program kept us fed well enough, we really only got meals from it. So we were all rather desperate to have some snack food in our system. Everyone else was milling about outside the bus, chatting aimlessly. It seemed like people were missing though.

I found out that I was apparently right when Mr. D came storming into the area, dragging Travis and Katie by the collars of their shirts.

"I have had enough of this!" he barked, rather forcefully releasing the two of them. "I get sent to find those who were late to return to find these two all over each other. And not to mention we have another couple of kids missing."

All of us glanced around, and I noticed that Beckendorf and Silena were gone as well. I couldn't blame Mr. D for seeing this as a bad thing, but I think he was overreacting a bit.

"You're all here because you're supposed to be in jail!" he yelled. "You're supposed to be bettering yourselves, not hooking up like there's no tomorrow! This isn't the first time I've caught you all acting up like this, but I sure hope it's the last!"

I blushed slightly, remembering how Mr. D had found us in that pool that one time. And hoping not to turn Mr. D to yelling at us, I dropped Percy's hand from mine.

"Mr. D," Chiron said. "Don't you think you're taking this a tad too seriously?"

"No," he deadpanned. "This isn't helping them at all. How many of them are going to be on this trip again next year? Probably most of them. They aren't afraid to come back on this trip because they get to goof off like this. It's like we're letting them get away with committing crimes."

Chiron clearly didn't fully agree with what he was saying, but he chose not to fight him. "Well then, how exactly do you even plan on correcting this?"

Mr. D whirled to face all of us. "Listen up, brats. For now, the boys and girls will be going around separately since all of you being together is going nowhere. The boys will be sleeping in a different area from the girls from now, which I will be supervising. Chiron, you and Mrs. Dodds will be watching the girls."

It was obvious all of us wanted to protest, but Mr. D sounded like he had hell in store for us. So we all figured it would be best to keep our mouths shut. Since we didn't know how long this whole thing would last for, the bus ride was rather awkward.

"You can have my stuff if Mr. D decides to kill all of the guys," Percy told me jokingly. We were curled up next to each other in the seat because Chiron got Mr. D to budge on at least giving all of us the bus ride together.

I chuckled. "You guys really got the bad end of the deal. We have Chiron who doesn't really agree with this and Mrs. Dodds who randomly disappears all of the time anyway."

"I would say I'm going to miss you but A) that would sound corny and overrated, and B) I doubt this will end up lasting very long."

"You have a good point," I told him and pecked him on the lips. "But I guess I'll miss you anyway."

**}{}{}{}{}{}{**

"Is it just me or is it a lot quieter without the guys around?" Rachel pointed out later that day. The sun was just starting to set and we were all sitting around a fire, roasting hot dogs for dinner.

We all nodded in agreement and I spoke up. "Well, that means Connor and Travis aren't hear so that already gets rid of half of the usual noise."

"Travis? As in Katie's new boyfriend?" Silena teased her.

"Shut up," Katie hissed, kicked her lightly in the shin.

"Yeah, way to get us all in trouble," Thalia said. Katie glared at her, but she just laughed. "I was kidding, relax."

"And you shouldn't be talking," I pointed out. "I don't think it would've helped much if Mr. D had known that you pushed Luke and Nico into that lake."

The rest of the girls looked at her in surprise while Clarisse simply said, "That explains why they looked soaking wet when we passed by you guys."

All of us went back to eating our hot dogs, seemingly bored in general. It wasn't so much that we were dependent on the guys for entertainment, but if they were with us we would usually just mingle with them. But now we actually had to think of something to do.

"Alright, I'm not spending this whole night in silence like this," Thalia thankfully spoke up. "Anyone have any ideas?"

As a plan began to form in my head, a smirk crept up on my face.

Thalia noticed this. "That is a plotting a smirk and I like it. Tell me what you're thinking."

"Well, what better way to spend a girls' night is there than messing with the guys?"

Now everyone seemed to be fully intent on listening to me. I already knew this was going to be a _long _night.

**Hi everyone. I know I haven't updated in like forever, and I feel really bad. The main reason I haven't been able to update this story is because I have no idea where I'm going with and I'm kind of lacking in the inspiration department right now. I now at least have next chapter planned out, so all I really have to do is write.**

**But I want your opinion on something. To kind of try and get my inspiration back, I had another PJO story in mind that I was thinking about posting. I'm not sure if it may be a little much, but I really think it might help spur on some ideas for this story. Which means **_**much **_**faster updates. So tell me what you all think and if you all think the other story is a great idea, I'll post the summary with the next chapter.**

**Thank you for sticking with me despite my horrendous updating.**


	24. Chapter 24

**Thanks to all who reviewed last chapter: **SoccerGurl03, Terri M, ffsah1, RomanGreekDemi, Massa, Sneaky ninja 05, cindella204, Alexandra Nightshade, biancadiangelo0703, A Sea of Sound, PyroTy100, Capollo4Ever, Thalico-freak-99-Hecatejewel, C-Nuggets N.L, Christian Chick, Darknaightmare, atalantajacksonpercyslilsis, LLBSLover12, The Sea Goddess, ixdookiie, greek-ac-thalassa, filmyfurry, Insanity is my second name, 11Lil'MissWriter11, PJ and HP are my life, Prettylittleliar1435, Katie-potatey, soul61, ShadesOfGrey97, Bookninja15, averagewriter, Reading-and-Bubbling, Regina de Morte a.k.a. Mezza, ChildOfAthena, obsessivereader95, greemRiperAndMe2, .Cookie, BabyYou'reAllThatIWant, HiThereSmiley, SSGirl

**I don't own PJO.**

**Annabeth's POV**

"I've gotta hand it to you, Princess," Clarisse told me. "This idea doesn't sound half bad."

"Except for the fact that we're all crowding behind a bunch of bushes," Silena pointed out. "But it'll be worth it."

"Shut up!" Katie barked quietly at them. "Travis and Connor are going to their tent right now."

We all pushed some branches aside to peek into the boys' campsite. Travis and Connor were heading to their tent which happened to be the one closest to us, and everyone else was milling around the center of their camp. Mr. D was surprisingly nowhere to be found. The Stoll brothers went into their tents for a few seconds before coming back out with puzzled looks on their faces and the letter we had written in their hands. Thankfully they were only standing a few feet from us so we could hear them pretty clearly.

"Who do you think this is from?" Connor asked.

"Probably Katie," Travis guessed. "Whoever wrote it said they wanted to make out with me like there's no tomorrow. And she's already shown just how much she wants me."

Katie rolled her eyes as we all laughed silently and sarcastically clapped her on the back.

"But whoever wrote it said they wanted to hook up with both of us," Connor noted. "Since she likes you, she seems to have to hate me. She needs someone to be angry at. So there's no way she wants me."

"Well, it's signed with a phone number on the bottom. Why don't we call it and find out? Don't you still have that iPhone we pick-pocketed off some guy like the second day of this trip."

Connor nodded, pulled the iPhone out of his pocket, and punched in the number we had written on the bottom of the paper. All of us turned our attention to the main camp where Nico pulled out his own ringing phone and walked into his tent to answer it.

For those of you who may not have figured it out: We wrote secret admirer letters to a bunch of the guys and signed them with Nico's phone number. We figured it'd be fun to pick on Nico since it would probably get the biggest reaction out him and he was the only guy besides the Stolls who had one. And thankfully he had given Thalia the number.

The Stolls had put the phone on speaker for both of them to hear so we were also able to clearly hear Nico's voice out on the other end as he picked up. "Hello?"

As the two of them recognized the voice, the Stolls brothers' eyes grew wide with shock as they frantically hung up.

"Wait a minute…" Travis paused, trying to find a way to word it. "Nico wants us to make out with him?"

"I don't have anything against gay people, but that doesn't mean I'm making out with Nico," Connor stated firmly.

Travis was still a bit frazzled though. "I'm not going to either! Besides, I thought he was obsessed with Thalia!"

Thalia glared at us menacingly, daring us to comment before we even got the chance to. I'm not sure any of us would've though since we were all on backs, clutching our sides that were aching from the laughter we had to mute.

"I guess that was just a cover."

"But why _us_?" Travis was really having a hard time keep his quiet so that he didn't draw attention from the rest of the guys. "Are we appealing to men or something?"

Connor smacked him upside the head. "Get a hold of yourself. We're just going to pretend nothing happened. If he asks about the note, we're just going to act like we didn't get it."

"Alright, let's go."

With that, the two of them went and rejoined the rest of the guys. They were carefully staying as far away from Nico as possible.

As the rest of the guys continued to find the letters, they kept borrowing the Stolls iPhone to call the number since they didn't even seem to know Nico had a phone. Beckendorf had been the second one to find the letter and thankfully he stood not far from our bushes to make the call.

When he heard Nico answer, he just panicked. He disguised his voice as he spat a quick "Sorry, wrong number" into the phone. As if unable to believe, he reread the note several times before crumbling it and throwing it into the fire the guys had started up.

Chris was the next to find the letter. Unfortunately for us, he chose to go to the complete other side of camp to read the letter. So we had to very carefully and quietly sneak over that way. That caused us to miss Chris's initial reaction to Nico answering the call though.

"Nico, it's okay," Chris was saying in a calming voice. "I'm not going to judge you. And I guess I could consider this whole thing a compliment. I don't think this would work out though."

Even though the phone wasn't on speaker, we could hear Nico bellow, "What the hell are you talking about?" We were all struggling not to laugh aloud by that point.

Chris snapped, "I was trying to be nice about this, but if you're going to be an asshole-" He ended the call abruptly and went and gave the Stolls their phone back as we couldn't contain our laughter anymore. We managed to keep it quiet enough though that the guys didn't notice over their own talking.

We saw Percy going toward his tent, so we all watched attentively to see yet another reaction to this whole thing. We knew they had no hope of catching on about this since they would all consider it too awkward to talk about.

"So I see Mr. Johansen is your next victim," my blood ran cold at the sound of Mr. D's voice behind. I knew we should've been more careful about him when planning this. Now we were in such deep shit. "Whose idea was this exactly?"

For some reason, Mr. D had crouched behind the bushes as well and was talking low enough so we wouldn't be caught by the guys. Why did he have to ask whose idea it was though? It was obviously mine. I was the strategist out of all of the kids in the program.

Thalia though, obviously cared a lot less about getting in trouble. "It was my idea. We wanted something to do, so we decided to mess with the guys."

Mr. D studied her for a moment. "While you may be a great liar, I would still bet on Anniebell here."

I ignored him messing up my name for the billionth time. "Look sir, I-"

"Normally, I would fight to get you kicked off the trip for this," Mr. D interrupted me. "However, I am quite enjoying watching them all go mad over such silly letters. For being the ringleader behind my source of entertainment, I suppose I can let this slide."

We all stared at him in shock.

"So we're not in trouble?" Rachel checked.

"I guess not," he mused. "Those boys are pitifully boring when you all aren't around them. The only ones I've found something to yell at over were the Stall twins and that isn't anything exciting."

Before any of us could comment any further, he wandered off into the night. Something told me he didn't plan on keeping us separated from the guys much longer though.

"Weirdest. Night. Ever," Silena commented and we all nodded in agreement before turning our attention back to Percy.

He had already gone through the process of reading the letter and borrowing the Stolls phone. We had tuned in just in time to see him stared confusedly at the phone when Nico picked up. I was surprised Nico wasn't just ignoring the calls by this point.

"Um…Nico?" Percy scratched his head. "Why'd you send me this letter? Hello? Hello? Nico?"

Nico must've reached his breaking point and just hung up on Percy.

"Aw," Katie said. "We're out of letters." Luke was the only guy left, but Thalia had made us swore not to give one to him because she knew any altercation between him and Nico probably wouldn't end pretty.

I shrugged. "We should probably head back anyway. Chiron was nice enough to let us go. Something tells me Mrs. Dodds won't be so forgiving."

Just as we were leaving though, Luke approached Percy who still had the phone and letter. We all stopped in our tracks, hoping to see if anything interesting happened as well make sure we weren't spotted.

"I didn't know you had a phone on you," Luke said to Percy.

"It's Connor's actually," Percy told him. "He let me borrow it."

"Do you mind if I borrow it?" Luke asked. "I kind of want to check in on my mom."

"Sure."

As Percy went to hand him the phone, Luke noticed the letter in his hand. "What's that?"

"Some secret admirer letter."

"Then I pray for whoever wrote it that Annabeth doesn't find out. With her jealousy, she'd kill them in seconds."

The girls all glanced at me and laughed a little. Except for Thalia. Her hands were clenched tight as she watched the scene carefully.

"Well, I don't think she'll be too worried in this case," Percy assured him.

"Why?"

"It's from Nico."

Luke snagged the letter out of his hand and started reading. Knowing this wasn't going to end well, Thalia rushed forward, probably to tell him it was a fake. Katie and Clarisse both got a hold of her though and held her back, clamping a hand over her mouth as well.

"We can't get caught," Clarisse growled in her ear. We'd already been caught by Mr. D though, so I didn't see the huge problem with it. The guys would probably be pissed if they found out now though.

"Are you sure this isn't a joke?" Luke hissed at Percy.

Percy shrugged. "If it was from the Stolls I would definitely say it was. I would maybe even think it was just a joke from Nico. But when I called the number he hung up on me. Why would he hang up if it was a joke?"

That made up Luke's mind. He shoved both the phone and letter back at Percy and went tearing across camp. Nico was just coming out of his tent, looking rather pissed too. He was probably about to just go yelling for answers about all the phone calls. He didn't get the chance to say a word though as Luke stormed up to him and punched him right in the face.

We all watched as we stood there frozen. Thalia, however, was fighting hard to get out of their grip and I had to help hold her back. If she stepped in now, things could've gotten a lot worse.

"What the f*** are you doing?" Nico roared at Luke as he landed him with another blow, this time to his chest.

"Are you kidding me?" Luke yelled back. "Please tell me that letter was damn joke!"

"What letter?"

"Don't deny it. This whole trip you've claimed to like Thalia. You've messed with her so much over it. And now you've got the nerve to write a love letter to Percy?"

"What? I didn't write some stupid letter. Do you even realize how stupid you sound right now?"

Luke went to lunge for him again, but Beckendorf held him back.

"Wait a second!" Connor shouted. "You wrote me and Travis one too?"

"And me?" Beckendorf added.

"And me?" Chris echoed.

"I didn't write any damn letters!"

"Then who did?" Travis asked.

At the same time, realization seemed to dawn on each of them. "The girls," they snarled in unison.

Luke really didn't seem to care. "Whatever, we can deal with that later." He glared at Nico. "We still need to settle this."

"Fine. If you have something to say go ahead and say it," Nico challenged.

"I don't mean to be an ass, but I've been dealing with for too long and I'm done," he growled. "You came into this program this year already liking Thalia. So you're trying to tell me that you got a crush on her through only last year's program and something like didn't dispel over months without seeing her until the program started up again. To me, that's crap. It's total crap that we're on the same level of competition when you've barely known her compared to me. I know I screwed up, but that doesn't mean I liked her any less. What you feel for her could never compare to what I do."

"Just because you've known her longer?" Nico questioned, putting up a rather uncaring façade.

Thalia was no longer fighting us, but we didn't dare let her go.

"You damn well know I'm right," Luke snapped. "You just don't want to admit it. I know it sucks to hear because you have your little crush on her. But just imagine how it feels for me to compete with you because I can't even get her to trust me again. I don't hate you for this whole thing, but boy do I envy you."

"Well, contrary to your belief, I really like her."

"But that's exactly my point!" Luke shouted. "You _like _her. I _love _her."

Everyone went dead quiet. No one moved for a second. Then Thalia yanked free of our hold and flew into their campsite. She started walking toward Luke, who went and met her halfway. She seemed to be in a bit of a confused trance as he finally reached her.

"If I kiss you now, are you going to deck me?" Luke asked.

She just cracked a grin, rolled her eyes, and pulled him down to kiss her in response.

Most of the guys stood around awkwardly. Travis and Connor clapped sarcastically. And the rest of the girls and I all just shrugged like "this wasn't what we intended to happen, but we'll roll with it".

Nico had disappeared into woods before the two of them parted.

Since our cover was blown anyway, we went out to meet up with the guys. As I was walking to Percy, I passed by Luke and Thalia. His hands were still on her waist like he had no intention of letting her go anywhere and her hands were threaded together, resting on the back of his neck.

"Why did you have to win me over after being a jackass?" she sighed.

"Don't worry about," he told her. "I'll fix everything with Nico. I'll even put in a good word for you since he's probably pissed at both of us."

"Am I supposed to congratulate you guys or tell you I'm not surprised?" I intervened.

"I'm surprised Percy hasn't latched onto you already," Thalia commented, getting even with me.

"We should head out soon though," I told her. "I don't think we want to push our luck."

She nodded and so I went to find Percy. He was sitting outside of his tent with _another _freakin' letter in his hand. It definitely wasn't the random notebook paper we had used for our letters.

"What's that?" I asked him.

He folded it up and stuffed it in his back pocket. "Don't worry; it's not another secret admirer. It's really nothing important."

By the way he said it though, I knew if definitely wasn't _nothing_.

**Well that was dramatic.**

**Hmmm…couples are together and no one is much of a basket case anymore. Do I sense I climax coming soon? Not next chapter, but probably soon.**

**And for those upset about the Thuke turn of events. If you were only here in hopes of Thalico I think you're reading the wrong story since this is Percabeth-centric if anything. So if this turns you away from the story, then so be it (though I hope it doesn't). Because when it comes to Thuke or Thalico, I don't have a preference. I just go with whatever one I think works best for the story. **

**Anyway, here's just a little note regarding my possible other story I mentioned last chapter. I don't think I'm going to post it yet. I considered posting it before the end of this story, but I might just wait until the end of the story to do my usual voting thingy.**

**And I have next chapter planned out so it will definitely be up in the next two weeks (hopefully just one week).**


	25. Chapter 25

**Thanks to all who reviewed last chapter:** atalantajacksonpercyslilsis, soul61, ffsah1, katnissjackson1019, ShadesOfGrey97, Hedley is Amazing, cindella204, Terri M, C-Nuggets N.L, SoccerGirl8, biancadiangelo0703, Insanity is my second name, Reading-and-Bubbling, Booksandbeachgirl, Generation Nothing, chessrd, ixdookiie, boxtoplad999, SoccerGurl03, Athenagal22, ladyrima112, Dotell, bubble drizzles, HiThereSmiley, A Sea of Sound, PanicxAtxThexDiscoxFan, ChildOfWisdom, xxbrowneyesxx, SeddieLoverNicodiAngeloLover3, wingswordsandmetaphors, ILove2Write13, averagewriter, greek-ac-thalassa, Bookninja15, candy0304, HeroofTwilightsgf, fruit salad yummyyummy, ihatemakingupusernames, greemRiperAndMe2, Eire14071999, readingpower, the fun emo, earthygirl1234, RandomGurl8, EmoIsPunkOnlyMoreHarryPotter, Blackhawk1997

**I don't own PJO.**

**Annabeth POV**

"So you guys seriously had no idea we were pranking you?" Katie asked the guys the next morning as we sat around camp. Unsurprisingly, the only one missing was Nico.

Wanting his entertainment back, Mr. D had reunited us with the guys that day. A part of me was a bit worried about that but nothing seemed to be wrong yet…except for the fact that Percy seemed wound tighter than ever. I'd asked him like five times if he was okay, and he just kept brushing me off. So it was kind of awkward sitting on the ground with his arms around me when I was kind of getting a little annoyed with him.

"I knew there was a prank going on," Chris explained. "But I thought it was Nico pranking me, so I played it up a bit."

"I figured it was a prank from you girls," Beckendorf said. "But I didn't want to say anything in case I was wrong and it was actually Nico."

"We had no idea whatsoever," Connor spoke up for himself as well as Travis.

"I didn't really get much of a chance to process it before I was interrupted," Percy told everyone. I was shocked he had even spoken; he had barely said anything all day.

Luke shifted awkwardly. "Let's not go there."

His arm was around Thalia who looked exceedingly uncomfortable, like she was guilty. And she probably was. At Luke's words, they started whispering to each other. They weren't being all that quiet though.

"You need to go talk to Nico," Thalia told him.

"Why? He probably wants to kill me. Can't you talk to him first?" he protested.

"No, you need to before I can. Regardless of what you say, he did like me for a while. It's going to be weird enough even if you do fix things first with him. I can't yet."

He sighed. "Fine."

I slid my way out of Percy's grip and walked over toward them, kneeling to whisper to them. "I'm going to talk to him anyway. I'll give you an update when I'm done."

They both thanked me and I headed off toward Nico's tent. I found him lying on his back on top of his sleeping bag, hands tucked beneath his head. His eyes snapped to me as I went and sprawled out next to him. He seemed confused, though somewhat grateful. Honestly, I was kind shocked he didn't blame me a little considering it was no secret I came up with the letters idea.

"I surprised you're not with Percy," he commented. Why does everyone say that? Am I really that attached to him?

I chuckled a little. "He's annoying me a little. Besides, I figured I'd come talk to you since you're being antisocial."

He laughed humorlessly. "Can you blame me? It's not even because I'm 'heartbroken' or some shit like that. But because of that whole showdown last night, it would just be downright uncomfortable. And this gives me some time to think."

"They feel really bad." I felt a bit bad for the whole thing to, yet no one seemed to blame me for some reason. I guess there were just so many people to pin blame on that I wasn't a main target.

"Who? Luke?" he laughed a bit more at that. "I doubt it. He got what he wanted, that's what matters to him. And Thalia? She could've said something if she felt bad about him yelling right after he did. Instead, she kissed him. Why the hell did he get rewarded for being an ass?"

"Well, contrary to your beliefs, they do really feel bad. Thalia had a hard time choosing for a reason. She would really miss you as a friend and Luke never wanted to upset you either. He would miss you too."

Nico settled his dark eyes on me. "If you say so. Can you come outside with me though? Because I might just freak out if they're all staring at me."

"Don't worry. You have me to talk to. And Percy's not being very talkative today, but if he gets over whatever it is I'm sure he'll talk to you."

"Alright lets go." So we both stood, hunched over in the tent.

I held my arms out to him. "Come on, give me a hug."

"Why?"

"Because we're friends."

"But I'm not really much of a hugger."

"Which is exactly what makes you so much more fun to hug," I told him and wrapped my arms around his shoulder. I could hear him chuckle a little as he wrapped his arms around my waist in return.

**}{}{}{}{}{}{**

No one knew what to say or to do. We all just sat there, none of us knowing what was going on. There were only two of us missing, off talking with the chaperones. Even in our clueless state, we knew whatever was going on had to be bad.

The sun was still yet to finish setting so it was easy to see the expressions of everyone if the circle. Some were worried, some were confused, some were scanning me to try and find answers.

Percy was with the chaperones.

And so was Rachel.

Whatever happened, no one knew.

It would probably explain why Percy had been so glum earlier though.

They'd already been gone for twenty minutes and it had taken another fifteen before they finally emerged from the woods where they had gone to talk.

The chaperones all kept their faces impassive; Chiron's eyes in particular seemed to be more guarded than usual. As if he was determined not to let anything show. Mr. D almost seemed to have a wicked gleam in his eye though, which I didn't find comforting at all. Even though he had been admittedly pretty cool the night before, I was still weary of him.

Percy look stressed and upset, absolutely refusing to let his gaze move from the ground. And Rachel was glaring at him like no tomorrow. She seemed hurt and betrayed and worried at the same time.

"What's going on?" Silena asked for all of us when the group finally reached us.

Chiron took a deep breath. "Unfortunately, one of you has to leave the trip. I'm not sure why, but I was contacted a little while ago and was told that I had to cut one of you loose. And, as all of you probably know, Percy got himself in trouble along the way. As his punishment, I had him choose who is taken from the trip."

He didn't even have to say it.

For whatever reason, Percy picked Rachel to leave.

Thalia opened her mouth to say something, but Percy cut her off. "Thalia, don't even try offering to leave instead. You wouldn't have anywhere to go."

In response, a few other people offered to go.

"No," Percy snapped and looked to at Rachel. "I know you're mad at me. But I chose you because I know that even though you may not get along with your parents, they'll take care of you. I can't say the same for anyone else here."

It was sad, but true. All of us had pretty broken families.

"I understand," she told him, sniffling a little. It was obvious she was trying to stay angry, but she couldn't help but grin slightly. "I'm still mad at you though."

"Of course you are," he said sarcastically and hugged her.

She wasn't even gone yet, but the air of the camp seemed to be thicker with the loss of one of us.

"Rachel," Chiron called gently as she was saying goodbye to everyone. "I'm truly sorry. Now go pack your bags and enjoy your last night."

**Hello everyone. It's been a while and I'm really sorry about that. But at first my internet was down and then my computer broke and has been getting fixed for the past like two weeks. Yay technology! And aside from that, I'm really trying to work through this story even though I have no inspiration for it anymore. Hopefully you all still enjoy it anyway since I absolutely refuse to give up on this story anyway.**

**And I know a lot of you felt bad for Nico last chapter. So maybe this started to make up for it a little, since I think Nico and Annabeth make great friends. And don't worry, there's more of him to come.**

**And I'm glad to know a lot of you found the prank funny, I have a group of friends who tried something similar once and found it hilarious. If any of you do actually pull it, tell me how it goes.**


	26. Chapter 26

**Thanks so much to all who reviewed last chapter (I reached 1000 reviews which completely blew my mind and I have all you awesome people to thank for it): **RandomGurl8, cindella204, bubble drizzles, Experimental Agent 1123, soul61, A Sea of Sound, Goddess of Revenge, redandwhitetigers, fruit salad yummyyummy, ILove2Write13, ffsah1, SoccerGurl03, Insanity is my second name, greek-ac-thalassa, cheezygurl51899, boxtoplad999, ChildOfWisdom, CrunchyMunchers, HeroofTwilightsgf, Echo101, PJ and HP are my life, starr1095, Hidden in the flameS meSTDSD, Super Novelist 47, ixdookiie, meeeethegr8, C-Nuggets N.L, Regina de Morte a.k.a. Mezza, ButterflyFlyToMe, Clixia, .omega..z, StephDaughterofPoseidon, ShadesOfGrey97, HiThereSmiley, Alice and Jasper forever, Annabeth-Kahlan-Alanna-Cara, Alexandra Nightshade, averagewriter, hollyleaf998, Bookninja15, PoseidonChick13, xxbrowneyesxx, candy0304, Lord Sanguine, elmopie, SoccerGirl8, lilybethluna, Sky RV Gracious, GreekMythologyFreak98

**I know, it has once again been a long time. And the only thing I can really blame it on is my lack of inspiration. I might have found it again though. I found it because I started working on another story and just writing PJO stuff again gave me the drive to work on it again. I'm posting the summary of the other story at the bottom of this chapter. So if you could please give me your opinions on it, it would be much appreciated since I'm thinking about posting it since it helped me so much with this story.**

**Oh, and I've been asked if I'm bringing Heroes of Olympus characters into this. No, I'm not. It's a bit too late in the story in my opinion and I probably would've put them on the trip originally.**

**I don't own PJO.**

**Annabeth POV**

"Once this trip is done you guys better come visit me," Rachel threatened the next morning as we all waited with her at the bus stop.

"Do you have a swimming pool?" Connor asked, knowing her family was filthy rich.

"…Yeah?" she answered tentatively.

"Then we will most certainly be visiting you along the way," Travis replied.

"Great," she grumbled sarcastically, rolling her eyes but hugging them anyway.

We had all pretty much said our goodbyes last night, but we couldn't help but do it again. It was still hard for us to grasp that one of us would be gone for the rest of the trip. And although it was unspoken, everyone now seemed to be slightly worried as to who could be the next to go.

"No hard feelings?" Percy asked her, trying to make his voice sound joking. It sounded more like her answer could make or break him though.

She shook her head. "No, I understand why you picked me. But you better call me frequently and the two of you better visit me. I'm going to need someone to keep me sane from my parents."

I liked how she said that both Percy and I better visit her. I had once been jealous of her and Percy yet that didn't seem to bother her in the least as she openly welcomed both of us to go see her.

As she went around to everyone, I noticed curiously how she kept glancing at Mrs. Dodds. Rachel seemed pissed at her, like she wanted to knock her head clean off. And, of course, I was determined to find out why exactly that was.

"So what did Mrs. Dodds do to you?" I questioned as the bus appeared further down the road.

She looked surprised for a second that I had figured out she was angry with the woman, but then realized it wasn't very surprising of me. "Watch out when it comes to her. She barely says anything, but she's probably the most evil chaperone."

"Why?" I interrogated, tempted to sneak a glance at the woman myself.

"She's the reason someone had to leave the trip," Rachel explained hurriedly, watching the bus slowly get closer. "Mr. D just decided to separate us because we were being uncooperative. Mrs. Dodds reported our behavior to the board who organizes this program. She demanded something be done about it. So they figured what would send a big shock to us was making one of us leave."

What a backstabbing bitch.

I somehow managed to keep my voice calm despite the rage for that woman that just built up inside me. "Well, they were right. I'll miss you." I hugged her as the bus pulled up and shouted, "Group hug!"

Everyone joined in; even Clarisse after Silena threatened her with a makeover.

We all waved goodbye as she got on the bus with teary eyes.

And as it drove away we all loved down at the pavement with sadness that one of us was now gone.

**}{}{}{}{}{}{**

"Percy, move please. I need to talk to Annabeth for a minute," Thalia ordered when we were on the bus later. Everyone tried to ignore the fact that Rachel was here. We had all become close enough that it was blaringly obvious to have just one voice missing during these bus rides.

I had been sitting against the window and had been lying across the seat with his feet sticking out into the aisle and his head resting in my lap. We had been talking about completely random things from our broken families to whether or not Coke tasted different from Pepsi.

He sat up in his seat but didn't move from it. "Hi Thalia, nice to see you too."

"Fine, smartass," with that she parked herself on his lap and turned to face me.

"Get off of me," he whined.

"I gave you the opportunity to move and you didn't take it. So now you can wait," she told him, shooting me a look that said just how much she loved messing with him.

Trying to stop a fight before it could start; I cut in, "So how's the Nico fiasco going?"

"That's part of the reason I'm back here," she explained. "I talked to Nico and we've come to the agreement that a little time apart is best and then we hope to forget the whole thing and go back to being friends. But Luke won't man up and talk to him, so I decided to step to his level of immaturity and not talk to him."

"That'll solve your problems," I told her sarcastically.

She laughed. "It might in this case actually. Some other people in the trip are kind of on Nico's side and are a little mad with him. He doesn't want another person mad at him, especially me."

"Can you guys go an hour without fighting?"

"All couples fight," she pointed out shrugging. "That probably should've been a huge indicator earlier as to why we should go out. We were already bickering like a couple anyway."

I couldn't help but agree on the 'all couples fight' thing. Thankfully, Percy and I had kept our fighting to only over unimportant things and we usually made up within an hour. That may have also partially been because we didn't like staying angry with each other.

"As much as I love hearing this gossip," Percy mocked. "Thalia, can you please just say whatever it is you came here for so you can get off of me?"

He tried to make himself sound annoyed with her, but it was obvious he found it funny. If he really wanted her gone, he would've just pushed her off.

"Alright," she agreed, before looking at me with a hint of concern. "Pretty soon we're going to be back near your hometown as a stop so we can get to our next location. I figured I'd forewarn you since I know it might bring up bad memories."

The light joking from just seconds ago was gone. I couldn't even picture what it would be like for me to pass the school, the police station, the hospital, or possibly even that alleyway as we went through. It was a pretty small town after all, so it was likely we'd pass each of those places. I didn't even want to pass my own house, if I could even call it mine.

"Um, thanks for the heads up," I said quietly.

She nodded. "No problem."

Just to be obnoxious, she patted Percy's head jokingly to which he shoved her lightly as she got up. Then she disappeared down that aisle to go sit and talk with pretty much everyone else.

"Are you worried?" Percy asked gently pulling me onto to his lap that had been previously occupied by Thalia.

"I just have no idea how I'm going to react to any of it," I admitted, my expression completely puzzled.

"Come to think of it, you never really did tell me your story. And yet we're headed toward the home of it all."

His comment hit me like a truck. I hadn't even realized that I hadn't told him yet. Lately it hadn't exactly been to the forefront of my mind and knowing his hadn't made me see _him _any differently. So I guess I just sort didn't even notice. Especially since he knew most of the basics: my brothers were, I ran from home because I felt unwanted, I killed that one guy when I was seven, and I committed two other murders.

But, come to think of it, he was yet to even know how I had gotten the bullet wound on my shoulder.

Without even a second though, I just started spilling my story. The words were just falling from my mouth with ease.

For the most part Percy kept his face impassive, but he slipped up on occasion. His eyes narrowed when I described the bitchy cheerleaders. He looked disgusted when I told him how their boyfriends had taken my brothers for such a dumb reason. And he couldn't keep the shock off of his face when I said that a cop had been the one to shoot me.

"Wow," was all he could think to say when I was finished. He had managed to go without interrupting me, and now he just didn't know what to say.

"That was easier to tell than I thought it would be," I noted in surprise.

He chuckled. "That's because you trust me more now than you did a few weeks ago. You know I would never judge you. And you've had more time to deal with everything. Also, I'm not saying that it's good that your brothers died, but it gave you closure. You know that they aren't in the clutches of those guys anymore."

"That was…really insightful actually," I commended. Percy wasn't stupid, though he did sometimes do stupid things. But regardless, I never pictured him as insightful.

He laughed. "I've been dying to know your story this whole trip. Did you really think I was going to mess up hearing it by saying something ridiculous?"

I couldn't help but laugh along with him. "It's just that I hate to admit that this stupid trip must be working."

"Even though we all want to kill each other every other minute?"

"And we all flirt with each other left and right?"

"And some of our chaperones are a little crazy?"

"Yeah, it's really hard to believe this trip has worked at all."

**First things first, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter. I know it was kind of filler-ish, but it was necessary for an epic next chapter.**

**Second, some of you may have wished I wrote out the dialogue of Annabeth telling Percy her story. But I tried writing it out and it just sounded repetitive since we all already know her story. So I did it to spare you some boredom, and I liked it better this way anyway. Also, I know I made her telling him it seem kind of menial, but I think I pretty much explained that in her and Percy's little conversation after.**

**Third, here's the summary for the story I mentioned at the beginning of the story:**

Annabeth Chase spends her nights street fighting to help keep her makeshift family together. Percy Jackson, her best friend, spends his nights trying to avoid his stepfather's drunken abuse. Both have kept these things secret from each other, when it could actually ended up being the thing to bring them even closer together. AU/AH

**I should forewarn you, this story wouldn't be entirely Percabeth. Yes, it would be part of the main plot line, but not every chapter is just going to be about their relationship. It will have a hell of a lot more going on.**

**And, as for STRUCK, I think I finally figured out where I'm going with this story. It might last roughly five to eight more chapters and an epilogue. I'm not sure yet, but that's where I'm heading.**


	27. Chapter 27

**Thanks to all who reviewed last chapter:** HeroofTwilightsgf, BalletandBooks, cindella204, Alexandra Nightshade, ILove2Write13, ButterflyFlyToMe, 20Aphrodite11, ShadesOfGrey97, Insanity is my second name, boxtoplad999, C-Nuggets N.L, RedVelvetCupcakesForever, spottedfire98, xNereikax, Sky RV Gracious, hakuna-matataa, candy0304, RandomGurl8, pjoroxs, greek-ac-thalassa, bubble drizzles, lilybethluna, fruit salad yummyyummy, ancientdragonduelist, HeartOfCaramel, Tajee165, courixoxo, elmopie, Shelbaroo98, Lulunoel, IluvMe714, Coco Gold, Skyfly45, Bookninja15, Serenaisbestezrq387, HiThereSmiley, averagewriter, Frick Park Market, Haffy439, Icy Attitude, livetolaugh

**Before all of you get uber-pissed because I haven't updated in like an eternity, I apologize completely. My computer's getting old though and has had pretty much every malfunction possible over the past two months. So, I've barely even been able to access this story to work on it. **

**Also, I'm not going to lie, I'm really just trying to wrap up this story for you guys. I'm glad, and surprised, so many of you still love it. I thought of it at a time where I was so inspired, and I no longer have any drive to write it. I absolutely refuse to leave it unfinished and disappear from fanfiction though. Part of the reason is because nothing PJO-related has been very inspirational to me lately (which is a whole other rant I'm not going to get into).**

**Anyway, I really hate that there was such a huge gap between updates, but I might have a way to make it up to you guys. The story I gave you all a summary for last chapter has really helped my writer's block for this story, so I'm going to post it within the next few days (maybe even sometime tonight?) and I hope you all check it out. It's gonna be called Price to Pay, so keep an eye out. I didn't want to post it until I got word to all of you guys and at least got this chapter done.**

**Without further ado, here is the extremely long awaited (that shouldn't have taken two months) climax to this story (it may not seem like a huge climax at the moment, but trust me when I say it is).**

**Disclaimer: I don't own PJO.**

**Annabeth POV**

It was dark by the time we pulled into my home town. I'd looked at the hospital building as we drove by and already felt like I had seen enough of this place. Being there just felt so weird and wrong. I was with people I cared about in a place where there was no one I used to care about.

"You don't look happy," Percy commented as we got off the bus.

"This doesn't feel right," I explained. "I grew up here, yet it feels like I don't belong. I just hope no one recognizes me and I don't run into my dad."

"Those sound like reasonable requests." He looked around curiously, as if trying to think of a way to cheer me up or at least snap me out of my awkward daze. "So where's your old house?"

Actually looking at the buildings, I easily figured out where we were. "It's actually on just the next street over."

Before we could say more, Chiron was ushering the whole program into a pizza place that had just been having their grand opening last time I was near it. As we all sat and ate, things almost felt okay again. There was a nagging desire in my head to go see my house though. Just to see if it's even still standing.

"Annabeth, what do you think?" Chris asked, pulling me from my own world.

"I'm sorry, what?" I replied.

"Who do you think would win in a slap fight?" Beckendorf clarified. "Connor or Travis?"

Grinning a little at the question, I thought about it for a second. "Travis. Katie's given him more practice on how to take a slap."

Everyone nodded in understanding and Katie laughed a bit. From there, I was able to keep involved with the conversation despite my inability to brush off my need to my house. I couldn't even find a good enough reason to go see it; I just know I wanted to.

Percy was obviously worried about me yet seemed to think I just needed to be left to my thoughts, which I appreciated. Some of the others caught on to my behavior as well, but they all seemed to decide it wasn't there place to step in. I could tell Nico was trying to catch my eyes to see if I was okay, and I purposely avoided his gaze.

I couldn't take the curiosity anymore. If I didn't go see it, I knew I would regret it for the rest of the trip. There was no way in hell any of the chaperones were going to let me go though. So I excused myself to the bathroom, and thankfully the doors to the bathrooms were conveniently next to the exit. None of them were paying any attention, so I slipped my way outside.

Knowing I had to make this trip quick, I jogged down the road until it hit an intersection and I turned onto my street. It was dead silent considering most families were heading to bed by this point and I lived on a back road. Quickly making my way to my house, I scanned over the area. No cars were there, meaning neither my dad nor stepmom were there. The house looked like it had been lived in at least, so I knew they were still here. If I chose to, I still had somewhere to return to.

What really struck me were the trash cans pulled out to the curb for garbage collection the next morning. The lids weren't on because both of them were overflowing with dead flowers. It didn't take much thinking for me to figure out they were probably given to my parents after my brothers were declared dead.

I simply stared at the flowers that were probably once beautiful, trying not to cry at the guilt pretty much laid out before me.

I was jarred back to reality for the billionth time that night, when I heard the rattling of the fencing around the yard.

A figure I hadn't even noticed had pushed off the gate and begun to approach. Paranoia crept up in me, and for the first time in a while I felt desperate for my knife. The person got closer, and it took everything I had not to gasp in alarm when I recognized them.

It was Tammi's boyfriend.

"What are you doing here?" I growled at him, using my anger to hide my fear. This was exactly the kind of thing I'd been dreading by coming back here.

"I could ask you the same thing," he told me casually. "I stopped by here every night for a while hoping I'd get the chance to run into you again. I'd given up a week or so ago. I saw a girl who looked a lot like you get off a bus with a group of kids in town, and thought there was no way I could be that lucky. I knew if you were really here though, you'd have to stop by. I guess I was right."

"But you're just as guilty as me," I hissed. "You kidnapped and killed my brothers. Shouldn't you be in juvie or something?"

He laughed. "I had nothing to do with that. That was all Kelli's boyfriend. I just had to do some community service and pay a few fines because I knew about it. I like to settle my own problems more directly, so I wasn't going to use your brothers to get to you. I've wanted to deal with you myself."

"Did you even care about Tammi?"

My question obviously took him by surprise. By this point I was just trying to buy myself time. Hopefully someone from STRUCK would come looking for me or maybe by sheer coincidence, my dad would come home and help me out for once. I knew I was only angering him more, but it was all I could think to do.

"That's none of your business," he snarled. I noticed how he didn't claim to care about her. "Either way, she didn't deserve to die like that."

"Maybe not," I agreed. "But that doesn't make it your place to come after me."

"Stop trying to make me out to be the bad guy!" he yelled. "This is your fault! You're the insane one!"

I wasn't going to argue him there. My mental health had been in question for years; I just refused to blame it all on myself. He was hating that I challenged everything he said though. It was getting him to yell and that's exactly what I needed. Someone would end calling the cops for a noise complaint if nothing else.

"I'm not the only insane one," I pointed out. "You were all sick enough to mess with me in the first place. I feel terrible about killing them, but realistically that was probably the only way I'd ever escape from Kelli and Tammi!"

The words felt awful coming from my mouth, but I knew they would rile him up. Unfortunately, I think I hit just the right nerve and pushed him too far.

"Then it should've been your death, not theirs!" he bellowed and lunged for me.

And this was just another fight I knew I wouldn't be able to win no matter what.

**I know it's short, but next chapter will definitely be on the longer end.**

**Once again, I apologize for the wait. I **_**promise **_**next chapter will be up sometime next weekend since I'd hate to leave you guys in suspense. And maybe I'll try and think of a random oneshot to post for all you guys who have stuck with me through my inconsistency with this story, because I really appreciate it.**


	28. Chapter 28

**Thanks to all who reviewed last chapter. I'm sorry I can't post the names though because after all of the trouble I've been having with my computer, it finally broke. So I had to go through a crazy enough process just to post this chapter since I really didn't want to leave you guys with nothing when I promised an update. So I couldn't get all of your names down. And that is why I haven't posted Price to Pay either. I get a new computer Tuesday though, so I'll post it then even though it probably won't show up until really late that night.**

**Anyway, I'll just let you guys get to reading.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own PJO.**

**Annabeth POV**

My head was pounding when I came to. And the noise of a crowd bustling around me definitely wasn't helping. The first thing I registered was the cold metal handcuffs around my wrists and I tried desperately to remember what happened or how I even blacked out. When my sight cleared up a bit, I looked around to find myself out front of my house, leaning against a cop car. Neighbors were all outside in their pajamas trying to figure out what happened.

"Annabeth!" I heard someone shout before I got crashed into from the left in a hug. Stumbling to keep my footing, I realized it was Percy. "What happened? Are you okay?"

"Easy, Lover Boy," Thalia told him as she strode her way up to us.

"What happened?" I grumbled, lightly touching my fingers to a throbbing spot on my forehead. When I drew them back from the spot, blood lightly coated them.

"You tell us," she shot back. "All we've gotten out of the police is that you got in a fight with some guy and you knocked him out. They think you might've then fell and hit your head or something. You look like someone tried to choke you though." At the raise of my eyebrow, she clarified, "You have some bruising on your neck that looks kind of like hand marks."

With that, the fight came rushing back to me. He came after me and I just kept dodging his attacks because I didn't want to fight him knowing what kind of trouble I could get in. He'd someone how gotten his hands around my throat and just tried to suffocate me. I had panicked and managed to get my hand up and hit a pressure point on his neck, rendering him unconscious. I must've passed out right after from lack of oxygen and hit my head on the ground.

"It was Tammi's boyfriend," I mumbled, leaning into Percy's embrace. He understood and I felt him nod against my own head while thankfully Thalia didn't bother to pry. "What do the police think?"

"Don't worry, I got your back," Nico said, now walking over.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"You seemed suspicious during dinner, so I followed you when you left," he explained. "I thought you were maybe gonna try and confront your dad or something. I hid when I saw that guy approach you. When I realized things weren't going well-"

"You let her fight him alone?" Percy snapped.

Nico rolled his eyes and ignored his comment. "As I was saying, when I saw that things weren't going well I decided to tape it on my phone because I feared the police may get involved. I knew you could hold your own in a fight, so I figured you'd want something that would be more helpful with the cops. Luke's reviewing the video with them since he figured I'd wanna talk to you. Chiron's with them too."

To show my gratitude, I went to hug him but kind of fell against him because of the handcuffs. He got the picture though and wrapped his arms around me.

"Thank you," I whispered.

"Don't mention it."

Thalia tapped my shoulder gently. "I'm going to go see if I can figure out exactly what's going on. I'll be back in a minute."

I nodded in acknowledgement and pulled back from Nico, leaning against the car again.

"I shouldn't have come here," I remarked.

"Annabeth, it's understandable that you came back," Nico assured me. "I'd be curious too if I were you."

"Besides, that guy attacked you," Percy pointed out. "You might've died if you didn't knock him out. The cops won't hold that against you."

I sighed. "You don't get it, Percy. I've pushed my luck enough with the cops. I'm still on probation and this happened. They're gonna want to just lock me up by this point. It'd save them a lot of trouble."

Neither of them knew what to say to that. So instead we all just stood around watching the police talk to several people from STRUCK. They even questioned Mr. D who shockingly didn't seem to be throwing me under the bus over this. I hated waiting like that though. If they were going to throw me in juvie, I'd rather they just get this show on the road. Finally, Thalia returned with Luke.

"Okay, so we found out-" she began only to be cut off by the slam of a car door.

My eyes grew wide as I saw my dad hop out of his car and try to come rushing toward me. A police officer stopped him to make sure he was my father and calm him a bit before sending him my way. Percy instinctively pulled me closer to him as my eyes narrowed. This just topped off the list of things I didn't want to happen while I was here.

"Annabeth!" he called frantically, his arms out as if to go for a hug.

Luke put his hand out to stop my dad in his tracks. "Does now really seem like a good time for that?"

"But I'm her father. And who are you kids even?"

"Friends," Thalia, Luke, and Nico all said at the same time that Percy replied, "Her boyfriend."

"What?"

"Are you really surprised?" I asked my dad. "I got sent on a trip with a bunch of kids my age who were just as messed up as me. Did you think everyone was going to be my enemy?"

"Annabeth, please just listen to me," he pleaded. "I already told you this in my letter, but I want you back home. I'm sorry about everything that happened. I've even gotten your stepmother to the point where she wants to see you. We want to try again with you. I miss you."

"Do you miss me? Or do you miss Bobby and Matthew?" I growled.

Everyone froze up at that. Percy tightened his grip on me, Thalia and Luke just stood there awkwardly, and I could've sworn Nico coughed 'owned' under his breath. My dad just looked at me with shock and heartbreak.

"Wh-What do you mean?" he babbled. "Of course I miss them but-"

I nodded toward the garbage cans. "You sent that bullshit letter after they were dead. They mattered to you, I didn't. You didn't care that I was away from you, you cared that they were taken from you though and now you just want me to try and fill in their place. I loved Bobby and Matthew, but I'm not going to come home and love _you _again just because they're gone now."

Thalia seemed to pick up on the fact that I was near my breaking point. "Mr. Chase, go back to your wife. Because clearly your daughter doesn't want you."

He shook his head like he couldn't believe this. "I'm not going to just give up on you like that, Annabeth. I promise."

Not wanting to start a fight though, he left toward the house. Tears built up in my eyes, but I blinked them back, too tired to deal with him at the moment. He seemed sincere, but it just seemed _too _ironic for him to realize he was wrong at the same time he lost the two sons he favored.

Hoping to change the topic, I turned to Thalia and Luke. "So what does it look like that cops want to do with me?"

"If it helps, they don't want to put you in juvie," Luke told me.

"Why? That seems like the most logical option by this point."

Thalia shrugged. "They claimed that it would do nothing to help your mental state."

"So they think I'm crazy," I deadpanned.

"Well, they didn't phrase it that way but it does kind of sound like it," she agreed.

"You'll be okay," Percy said. It sounded like he was trying just as hard to convince himself of it though.

Pretty soon, everyone else from the program made their way over to us. And it if wasn't for the cuffs on my wrist, they probably would've made me forget what even happened. We were all laughing at the Stoll brothers' terrible singing (they thought Aaron Carter songs fit the occasion quite well) and Clarisse trying to fight Silena off from fixing her hair. All of us were even laughing Beckendorf accidentally tripped over his own feet. It felt like any other night on the program.

"Annabeth, may I speak to you for a moment?" Chiron called at one point. I hadn't even noticed him come up beside me.

Pulling away from Percy, I followed him a little ways away from the group.

"I'm terribly sorry about this but-" he started.

I didn't need for him to finish though. It was obvious where this was going. So I just ended it for him. "I'm off the trip."

He nodded and it felt like my world crashed down around me all over again.


End file.
